


I'll take the force of the blow

by snowynight



Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, First Time, Mind Games, Multi, Pining, Robots, Romance, Unethical Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 12:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1070616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve thought that he was going to die. Instead he is recruited into SHIELD, an organization dedicated to protect humanity from unwanted threats with Tony, Carol and Wanda. Together they go on missions that include an encounter with an evil house and fighting man-eating plants. Bonds between Steve and Tony grow firmer. But at their latest mission, they may need to confront their darkest secret and use all their wits to survive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll take the force of the blow

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for my beta whizzy! Link to Art: <http://archiveofourown.org/works/1070649>

At the edge of the roof of a tall building, Steve found his life flashing before his eyes.  
  
There were happy memories...  
  
 _”Why do you want to drive to Grand Canyon?” Tony asked. “It’ll be easier to fly there.”_  
  
 _“The journey’s more important,” Steve argued. He wouldn’t want to admit that he wanted to spend more time with Tony on the graduation trip._  
  
 _“Fine, but only if you let me take you to Las Vegas. So I can corrupt you properly.”_  
  
 _“Deal.”_  
  
There was a sadder memory...  
  
 _“I’m sorry, Mr. Rogers, but your situation isn't currently treatable. Your body'll gradually lose all its function and you have to prepare for it,” the doctor said._  
  
 _Steve couldn’t believe it. He was still young and he had a dream to pursue and now... He looked at Tony and saw his pale face. Tony held onto him and said, “You’ll be all right, Steve.”_  
  
 _Steve tried but failed to believe him._  
  
 _There was a memory of temptation..._  
  
 _“It’s a new experimental therapy that can give you a chance. If you want to take it, call me,” Konrad said._  
  
 _Steve hesitated. He wanted to live but... Honestly, he kind of accepted that he would die. He had been poked enough that he didn’t need another false hope. It hurt. Then he thought of how Tony kept spending money and time to prolong his life, how he sacrificed for Steve, how Steve’s friends worried about him... He dialed the number._  
  
Then there was the most recent memory.  
  
 _Screaming. pain. The unemotional eyes of Konrad. Endless torture. The tune of Happy Birthday._  
  
 _A soldier entered the room and he was holding... no, it was impossible, but Steve would recognize it everywhere._  
  
 _Tony’s hand._  
  
 _Steve could recognize the stout fingers, the scars left here and there. His suspicion was only further confirmed when he heard the soldier muttering, “...Tony...”_  
  
 _Tony._  
  
 _And Steve didn’t believe that it was random. They had got Tony and ripped off his arm somehow, (though it was strangely bloodless) and they had to pay._  
  
In a bout of frenzy, he broke his bonds and pounced on the soldier. He vaguely remembered someone wrestling with him and the sound of bone cracking. When his consciousness returned, he found that he was standing beside two bodies.  
  
He was a killer. There was no denying it. He couldn’t believe what’d happen, but the cold fact was undeniable. There was the heavy smell of blood. The bodies were kind of twisted, like broken dolls. Their eyes were wide open. One couldn’t imagine that these were formerly living humans. He wanted to vomit.  
  
That was why he made his way to the roof. He should pay for crimes with his life. When he finally prepared to approach the edge of the roof, he paused because he heard the light steps of another person. Turning, he saw a dark-haired woman with a mystical smile. She was watching him calculatingly. Steve had a feeling that he was a prey to  a predator.  
  
“Who’re you?” Steve asked the woman before him.  
  
“S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Natasha Romanova.”  
  
“Do you want to arrest me?” Steve asked. He had heard of S.H.I.E.L.D., an international police organization. What was the agent doing here?  
  
“No, we want to recruit you instead. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Agent Romanova said.  
  


* * *

  
  
Steve found that he still couldn’t settle well with this newer, healthier body. He accidentally crushed a coffee cup when he was just thinking of holding it. The centre of his gravity shifted and he had to learn to walk differently. Compared with the months of looking at his body slowly losing function, slowly betraying him, it should be fine, it should be great, but he just felt he was like an impostor in someone else's body. He knew that he needed to nip this line of thought fast - this was reality now and he had to adapt, but he just...  
  
He admitted that the memory of killing a man with this body shocked him, too. He couldn’t help but replay it in dreams, and the spark of memory returned even during the day. It was just... completely going against what he thought he was made of. But he had to live with it too, with guilt, with the realization that he was a killer, with blood on his hands.  
  
It was better during the training, as it was brutal and intense, leaving him tired enough not to think of everything. But during the more relaxed days... it just...  
  
That night he couldn’t sleep again and wandered to the library to pick out a book to read, and to his surprise, he found that Tony was there, seeming to drown in his thoughts. He looked at Tony’s hands and found that both were intact. Steve was confused.  
  
“Of course, why do you say that?”  
  
“I thought you were dead.” Steve said. He wasn’t sure whether he was awake. He pinched himself and found that it was painful. It was a relief. Only then he remembered to ask, “What’re you doing here?”  
  
“I’m a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent now, just like you,” Tony said.  
  
Steve ran to him and held his hands. They were intact. Tony was all right.  
  
It only made his crime worse.  
  
Tony must have noticed, because he asked, “What happened to you?”  
  
Steve gathered the courage to tell Tony, and waited for his condemnation.  
  
It didn’t come.  
  
Then Tony said, “Do you want to know what’s happened to me?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“You know my mother had cancer, right? “  
  
Yeah, Steve knew, and it became the breaking point that caused Tony and his father stop talking.  
  
“We argued, and I told him that it was too bad he brought me  into the world. Then he said I was just a robot  he'd made to please my mother and act as a son substitute, and my use was coming to an end.”  
  
“He‘s wrong. You’re not...”  
  
“I conducted a check up on myself, and found that my body is made of circuits and machinery. I knew that my father was right, that I was a robot. Then I... I didn’t know what I was thinking. But if Howard wanted me to die, I had to act first, so I rigged his car. Then my mother was in it that night. “ Tony lowered his head and said, “I’m a murderer.”  
  
Steve was shocked, but he saw the sense of heavy guilt in Tony’s eyes and hugged Tony. “I’m sorry I wasn't here for you, Tony.”  
  
Tony didn’t say anything and just held him back. Then finally Steve had to release Tony and asked, “Are you feeling well? What have you been doing recently?”  
  
“Fine,” Tony said. “I’m just thinking of giving the shell an upgrade.”  
  
“What shell?”  
  
Tony made a gesture indicating his body. “This. I’m a machine anyway, so I may as well make the best use of it.”  
  
“Don’t say things like that. You’re perfectly human.”  
  
“A human with his body made of circuits and chips?”  
  
“You’re not just your body. Whatever your body’s made of, you’re still you, kind, loyal, smart, and generous to a fault. And my dear friend.” Steve gently put a hand over Tony’s, and Tony held it back.  
  
“Can you still be a friend with me, knowing that I killed my parents?”  
  
“You were angry and you didn’t really intend to. And remember, I’m a murderer too. I have no moral ground to judge you.”  
  
“Yours is at best a manslaughter case, and you were hurt. You just wantwanted to defend yourself.”  
  
“It doesn’t feel like it.”  
  
“ It is, because you were in great pain then. Who knows what the drug was doing to you then? In fact...”  
  
“The doctors did a physical on me. Totally healthy. Epitome of human perfection.”  
  
“That’s great. You know when you’re ill...”  
  
“You’re always here for me.”  
  
“It’s not what I remember. I remember that my  efforts never last long enough.”  
  
“You may not have the best bedside manner, but you care.”  
  
Tony blushed a bit. “It’s just what a friend does.”  
  
“You kind of brought the best expert across the country for me.”  
  
“It’s nothing.”  
  
“What you do is everything to me, and now I only have you.”  
  
“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. Just be careful, right? Because here...”  
  
Steve understood what Tony meant. They now worked for a secret organization with unknown motives which might know everything about them. Who knew what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted them for?  
  
“It’ll be all right,” Steve said, half comforting himself.  
  
“Just... remember that I’m always here for you,” Then Tony said, “ it seems that you haven’t adapted to your body well.”  
  
Steve was not surprised Tony noticed. He could be observant about people sometimes. “I felt like a ghost in this body. It doesn't seem to belong to me. I... it's hard to explain.”  
  
“You’re talking to a literal electronic ghost here. I can’t say not to worry, because it’s useless. But this is a part of you now.”  
  
“All right.”  
  
“I still don’t believe that you still remember the road trip so well,” Tony changed the topic.  
  
Steve was a bit confused. Then he remembered in his telling the account to Tony, he mentioned that he recalled the memory of the first car trip when he was on the roof. Steve was grateful for the change. “Why not? It’s the first and only road trip we took together. It ‘s significant.”  
  
“You sighed a lot then.”  
  
Steve argued, “It’s not what I remember.”  
  
“You said...”  
  
Their conversation turned into bickering, and Steve was glad. They hadn’t long been so relaxed. When Steve’s condition was discovered, Tony put on  a cheerful mask to him, just like Steve didn’t want Tony to worry. They talked, but the shadow of Steve’s inevitable death (though Tony kept denying it) was always there, making the conversation heavy. But now that the fear of death was gone, Tony seemed to be more relaxed. They talked until deep at night, and Steve gently guided Tony to his bedroom, and then returned to his own bedroom, steps lighter than his during the days. He slept well. This was one of the better nights for him.

* * *

  
Carol found Wanda at the balcony staring into the sky and asked, “Are you worrying about your brother?” Since Carol met Wanda when she volunteered at a soup kitchen, she knew that Pietro was very important to his sister.  
  
“Yeah, we've been inseparable since birth, and now...” Wanda twisted her hands.  
  
Carol had some dark theories about Pietro’s whereabouts, but she saw no reasons to share them to distress Wanda more. She wouldn’t say she totally understood the bond between Wanda and Pietro, but she witnessed their closeness. “We’ll find him,” Carol said, trying to comfort her.  
  
“I hope we will. Pietro’s tough. He must be all right,” Wanda said, as if trying to convince herself. Then she asked, “What do you feel about the training?”  
  
“A bit tough, but you should see the boot camp we went through at the air force base. Despite what the other branches of military said, it was surely not easy. You?”  
  
“I feel weird. I have never been in such a rigorous setting before. No one’s made me train before. Maybe it’s for the best with the training now, because...” Wanda looked at her hands.  
  
Carol patted Wanda’s shoulder. “It was an accident, and like you said, you weren’t properly trained. I’m sure with time you’ll master your power. Who knows what good’ll come out of it?”  
  
“I hope so. It may sound like I’m whining, but I don’t really see what good this power can bring.”  
  
From previous conversations with Wanda, Carol knew that her life was made very difficult by being an energy mutant. “It’s natural. Don’t worry about it yet. We still have tomorrow to deal with.”  
  
“... Are you all right? Carol?”  
  
“Why wouldn't I be?”  
  
“Your mother and...”  
  
Wanda paused and Carol was silent for awhile, then she said, “Thanks for your concern. I still can’t make up my mind about her. I keep thinking about why she did the things she did and what she felt about it. Maybe  I'll never know. But I have a goal, and I’ll pursue it, no matter what. Can’t let those guys get away free.”  
  
“Please be careful. I don’t know much about it, but going against the government and military is dangerous,” Wanda said. “And just remember we’re here for you.”  
  
“Thank you. You have to be careful here too, because...” Carol didn’t continue, but her meaning was clear enough. If the military she had devoted her life to could make her life a lie, what about this organization that refused to tell them anything?  
  
“I know. Pietro and I don’t survive to this day because we trust everything told to us.”  
  
“Just be careful,” Carol said. A sprout of wind came, and Wanda shivered. Carol accompanied her to her room, then returned to hers, thinking.  
  
This organization might think they’d get the better of her, but she was Carol Danvers. What couldn’t destroy you would just make you stronger. Mark wasn’t able to stop her. The military wasn’t able to stop her. The organization was not going to be able to stop her either.

* * *

  
Wanda couldn’t sleep well. She kept thinking about Pietro. People said twins could often sense each other, and she really wished that she could have the ability to know Pietro’s whereabouts. She tried to convince herself that Pietro was smart and tough, but it still didn’t relieve her much. She thought about the conversation with Carol. From the time they'd spent getting to know each other, she knew that Carol was strong, independent, and didn’t exactly want to show her weakness to others. This she could understand. In a world where dogs ate dogs, baring the stomach would only lead to deadly attack. She was lucky to have Pietro to protect her, but Carol didn’t have such luck. Carol was the kind to present a strong face to everyone until the very moment she simply broke. Having what you believed in and would die for crumble before you... Wanda couldn’t imagine the pain, but Carol chose to comfort her instead. In her heart she made a decision to  look closely at Carol, not to be intrusive, but to be ready any time to give care and concern at the moment Carol needed it.

* * *

  
The first few practice runs were boring. Steve and Tony first met their teammates Carol and Wanda during them, and Steve supposed that these were supposed to build a team. They did surveillance duty on a woman who turned out to be not connected to any crime syndicates. They followed a possible psychic who turned out to be a mildly harmless person. They also went on guard duty where nothing happened. Steve could understand the well meaning intention behind the missions, but he admitted he felt the same boredom and irritation as the others. But on the other hand, it gave them freedom to be outside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He noticed Carol and Wanda made particular use of their free time outside the base, but didn’t comment on it. It was their private matters.  
  
When going on the missions, Steve was reluctant to choose a weapon, although he knew that it was a bit silly. He just didn’t want more blood on his hands. Tony must have seen it and one day he presented a S.H.I.E.L.D. to him, winking at him. Steve was grateful to Tony, but before he thanked him, Tony had gone. Steve went to the training room to train with the S.H.I.E.L.D.. He'd need a lot of training to master it.  
  
Unknown to Steve, Carol and Wanda were actually searching for Pietro. The news reporting that day’s event varied in their description, but they all agreed that an explosion had happened and the suspects ranged from terrorists to aliens. There was no mention of a pale-haired young man found there, either live or dead. They also asked the regulars of the park and phoned the hospitals, but they didn’t find him either. Wanda looked worried and Carol comforted her, “Pietro’s sneaky. That’s why he’s so hard to find.”  
  
“Yeah, you’re right.”

* * *

  
The day of a real mission finally came and the four of them came to a mission briefing to learn about what they needed to do. Natasha was smiling, but Steve still remembered the feeling he got when they met the first time, that she could kill you in hundreds of creative ways.  
  
She gave a short speech with a hand held note, “Hi! I’m Natasha Romanova. Our organization's goal is to protect humanity at all cost. There’re so many kinds of threats to humanity, from space, on the Earth, anciently made, modern experiments. No matter what it is, anything that threatens humanity will be contained and if possible, destroyed. .”  
  
“As you may know from the briefing, our enemies are many, but HYDRA is the chief menace we were created to eradicate. As this is your first mission, it’ll be more like the previous practice  runs. We received intelligence that there’s an unusually high level of HYDRA activity in the area specified in the document, and we want you to investigate it. Now read your briefing document, take your weapons, and make a plan to go.” Agent Romanova then left the room.  
  
Steve and the others started to read the briefing document and it really seemed like an easy task, to infiltrate a warehouse and arrest the HYDRA agents before the threat could develop further. They drafted out plans, got the necessary gear and departed.  
  
The place believed to be a gathering place for the HYDRA agents was a warehouse, and they put on a surveillance on it. To be careful, they followed suspectsgoing in out of the warehouse to make sure they were related to the HYDRA agents. At first it seemed to be another pointless surveillance task, but after several days on watch, finally the game was out and they confirmed that there were actual HYDRA agents. They were excited about the discovery - finally a real threat - but it also meant that they needed to be careful. They didn’t want to fail at the last moment. Then one night they saw a dark private car arrive, and the agents who got out carried a bag which was the size of a small person in the warehouse. It forced their hands and they went for the next step of the plan, infiltration.  
  
After they secured the exits and sealed off the warehouse, they bypassed the security alarm system set out by the HYDRA agents and found that they were guarding a crying girl strapped to the chair. This discovery confirmed their decision to carry out a rescue mission. Carol rushed in first, using the gun butt to knock down one of the agents. Steve took out his S.H.I.E.L.D. to knock down another. Wanda summoned an energy blast to attack the other agents. Tony knocked down the others. When they overcame all the HYDRA agents, Carol went to the girl, untied her and tried to comfort her by putting a hand on her, when she suddenly collapsed.  
  
Tony and Wanda rushed to Carol’s side and helped her up. When she woke up again, she looked disorientated and crushed the gun in her hands. Everyone was surprised. Then Carol said, “I’m not sure, but maybe touching the girl changed me somehow.”  
  
Not sure how to deal with this situation, they contacted Agent Romanova and reinforcements came to bring the girl and the HYDRA Agents back to headquarters. Everyone avoided touching the girl.  
  
Carol underwent examination and found out that now she had superhuman strength, endurance, stamina, flight, physical durability, and a limited precognitive "seventh sense." When Wanda heard that, she jokingly called her “Ms. Marvel” and the nickname struck as her codename.  
  
Later they learned from Agent Romanova that the girl seemed to have ability to turn people into what they desired. That was why HYDRA targeted her. To protect her safety, S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to keep her in custody long term as they couldn’t find her parents. Carol was glad about the mission.

* * *

  
Carol underwent vigorous exercise in the training room to adapt to her now enhanced body. The gym bag didn’t stand very long after her punch and she went for the high difficulty level of training. The training robots attacked her from different sides, and she bypassed a punch by one of them, kicked the power button on the other, and finally deactivated all of them.  
  
She felt delight about her enhanced body and her new power. It felt so good that  her body followed her every command and let her do things she couldn’t do before. Although she didn’t exactly think about it much earlier, she wanted to be strong, better, to overcome the obstacles ahead, and now the girl helped fulfill her dream. These abilities would be put to better use, she swore to herself.  
  
After finishing the exercises, she sparred with Steve. Because with what Konrad did to him, he now had near inhuman strength , was agile, and a worthy opponent to her. They watched each other carefully and matched their every move, Steve with his now perfected battle instinct and Carol with her new ability. Despite their effort, they drew a tie. After finishing the fight, they both gulped from their water bottles. Carol felt relaxed from the good exercise.  
  
Steve said, “You did great. I nearly couldn’t avoid that kick.”  
  
“You too. You really learn fast.”  
  
“How are you adapting to your new power?” Steve suddenly asked.  
  
“Great. Sometimes I still can’t quite handle my strength, but I enjoy running several blocks without sweating,” Carol said. “It seems like you haven’t adapted to your body well. Why?” It was obvious to Carol that Steve seemed to feel nervous about his strength, always holding out a bit, which might be a problem in a real fight with enemies.  
  
“I still... sometimes I still feel like an impostor. Not long ago I was dying, and...”  
  
“Would you mind telling me more?” Carol wasn’t a nosy person, but she guessed learning more about her teammates was a good idea and  this was a good chance.  
  
“I was ill, very ill. The only question was when I’d get to die, soon or very soon. And watching Tony throwing himself into everything that might help, ignoring himself... It hurt.”  
  
Carol nodded. She knew that Steve and Tony were close. “You earned it, fair and square. If anyone deserves a miracle, you do, and you suffered enough in the past because of your health. If you still feel weird about it, then do your best to deserve it.”  
  
“Thank you, Carol.”  
  
“By the way, I haven’t seen Tony for a long time.”  
  
“He recently got a lab of his own, and he was like a child given  a Christmas gift. Most of the time he  is working on some kinds of project when I  comedown to see him.”  
  
Carol smiled. From the way Steve was talking, apparently it was just the way Tony worked. She was glad to hear that the usually charming but reserved Tony had a childlike side.  
  
Steve smiled and then said, “But I finally persuaded him to get out of his dungeon for a movie night tomorrow night, barring no incidents. Are you interested?”  
  
“Sure. Have you asked Wanda?”  
  
“She agreed too.”  
  
“All right, I’ll be there.”  
  
Carol smiled. They hadn't known each other for a long time, and a movie night sounded just the right thing for team bonding. Recently she had been too focused on her investigation and Wanda to relax. Judging from what Steve said,he and Tony could use some relaxation. They all deserved a break to prepare for the next fight.  
  
She had a feeling that the coming fight would be very long and hard.

* * *

  
Tony was working in the lab. He looked at the quality of his provided tools with a critical eye, but he had to admit that having a whole lab with weird toys was exciting, reminding him of the more innocent days when he could leave the world at bay and play with his tools in his workshop.  
  
Now he was studying how to enhance the power out of his energy source and built-in weapons. If he was a robot, he might as well make his body a sharp weapon to protect his team better. It was an interesting challenge to both preserve the aesthetic and the function, which appealed to the engineer in Tony’s heart.  
  
There was a knock to the door and through the security camera, he could see Wanda. He went to open the door to let her in. Wanda looked around in interest and widened her eyes at the circuit exposed on Tony’s arm, but she didn’t comment on it. Rather she said, “It‘s late. I’m surprised Steve didn’t come to grab you.”  
  
“Despite the rumours, I actually won’t deprive myself much of the luxury of comfort.” Tony wouldn’t tell her that Steve said he’d come later because some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents wanted to spar with Steve. Seeing Steve as the epitome of human perfection, the male agents all seemed to see sparring with Steve s a good chance to test their abilities , while the female looked at him with interest. Steve seemed to not notice anything though.  
  
“So, what’re you working on here?”  
  
“I’m going to install repulsors  in my hands so I can have a built-in weapon.”  
  
“Sounds cool.”  
  
“It’s very cool.”  
  
Their conversation went on and off and Tony finished his task at hand. Then Wanda asked, “What do you think about power?”  
  
“Why’re you asking?”  
  
“I have better control of my power now, but...”  
  
“Steve would be a better person to ask about this kind of things. I’m just an engineer. Well, I’m designing myself to be a better fighting robot. Some people’ll say it's ridiculous. But weapons really are neutral. You can use them to destroy as well as protect.”  
  
“You’re right.”  
  
Then there was a polite knock and the door was opened. It was Steve and he asked, “Am I intruding?”  
  
“No. I’m just leaving,” Wanda said with a smirk. “Unlike some people, I know it’s time to rest.”  
  
Tony glared at her, which had no effect on her and she left the lab. Then Steve came and asked, “Tony, what’re you working on?”  
  
“Repulsors.” Tony was just launching into a detailed description and Steve cut it off and asked,  
  
“Is it safe for you?”  
  
“Of course. I’m a genius.”  
  
“I know, just... You are fine the way you are.”  
  
Tony smiled. This was a conversation they'd had before, and while he smiled at Steve’s weird hang-up of Tony’s modification, he had to admit that he felt warm about the concern.  
  
Tony tidied up his workplace, and left with Steve, not forgetting to lock up the lab so that only he and those he authorized could come in.  
  
Tony was walked by Steve to his room, and on their way they met other agents. While the looks given Steve were positive, they turned to fear and coolness when directed at him. He showed the most charming smile on his face and didn’t show his thoughts. He didn’t care what these people thought about him, but he wondered how this would affect his team.  
  
  


* * *

  
“Here’s the mansion that we need to enter,” Steve said. After a long car journey, they finally arrived at their destination. According to the briefing document, more than three owners had disappeared inside it without leaving any clues. The police hadn't found any leads and marked it as cold cases. S.H.I.E.L.D. got hold of the documents when they believed that it merited further investigation.  
  
The mansion was three- floors high and built in Gothic style. The facade was white, and the window curtains shut tight. Steve pushed the door and it opened with a creaky sound. Then they went in the mansion and left the door open.  
  
The corridors were dim, and spider’s  webs hung over the  corners. Steve switched on a  flashlight to navigate their way. The wooden floor  creaked under their feet. When they were in the living room, they could see that there were chairs covered with stained white cloth, and a table. There was a painting on the wall of a woman. Steve found her familiar but couldn’t figure out where the feeling came from.  
  
They were just talking about their next move when Tony asked, “Do you hear piano music?” After Tony said that, Steve listened carefully and heard a familiar tune of a lullaby. It was one that his mother used to sing to him when he was small. Then he said, “Yes, I hear a lullaby.”  
  
Tony seemed to be surprised. “I don’t hear a lullaby. I hear...” Then he paused.  
  
Carol and Wanda both confirmed that they heard music, but they couldn’t agree on what was playing either. This seemed to be the first strange phenomenon they met when they were in the mansion, so they decided to walk toward the source of the music, which led them to a room across the corridor. There was a piano and clearly the music came from it, but no one was playing. When they checked the room, they didn’t find any hidden broadcasting devices either. When they talked about how to proceed, Steve saw the piano shift and distort. Then the room suddenly changed. Before it was a room of dust and dimness. Now it was bright and warm, and Steve could see that the room was richly decorated. He turned around to find the others, and discovered that he was alone. Worried, he left the room and went into the corridor. It was now brightly lit and the floor was quiet under his feet. When he walked to the ballroom, he found that there was a party. Men and women in clothes that he usually only saw in costume dramas laughed, drank, and danced to waltz music. When Steve approached they didn’t seem to notice him. Then Steve walked among the people and smelled dust and powder. He was getting anxious as he couldn’t find his team. Where were they?  
  
Then Steve finally found that Tony was dancing with a woman. His eyes seemed blank and he didn’t respond to Steve no matter how he called Tony’s name. Desperate, Steve took a glass of wine from the table and poured it over Tony’s head. Tony yelped and turned to him, and Steve was glad that Tony ‘s eyes looked clear now.  
  
“Where are we?” Tony asked.  
  
“I’m not sure. It should be the living room of an empty house but now it looks like this.” Steve pointed to the surroundings. This looked nothing like the dusted and abandoned room they had gone into. The room was richly decorated, and there was an ornate clock by the wall.  
  
“What about Carol and Wanda? Have you seen them?”  
  
“No, we seem to be separated.”  
  
Then the clock chimed and suddenly the people in the living room turned into skeletons and attacked them. Steve bashed his S.H.I.E.L.D.  into one of the skeletons but it reformed again and tried to grab his arm. He looked at Tony and found that he faced similar problems. Immediately he shouted, “Run!”  
  
They ran along the corridor as the skeletons blocked the doors and chased them. The sound of bones knocking into each other became louder and louder, and they were near the end of the corridor. Finally they ran into one of the rooms and locked the door, trying to barricade it.  
  
Then they were startled by a civilized female voice. They turned to her and saw that she was wearing a housekeeping dress. But the first thing they noticed was that she looked transparent. Steve stiffened his lips and asked, “Who are you?”  
  
“I’m the maid to the lady of the house and I’ve been bound here since my death. This house was occupied by powers of evil. It killed my lady and the house guests, trapping their souls here and turning them into its weapon.”  
  
“Do you know how to deal with the evil?”  
  
“I’ve tried and failed to get rid of it, and the evil trapped me here instead. But you may be able to deal with it. The source of evil was in the clock in the living room. Please destroy it and free our souls.”  
  
“I promise you,” Steve said. Then the spectre of the maid smiled and disappeared.  
  
To get back into the living room again, they needed to face the hordes of skeletons. The skeletons might not be smart, but they were strong and only Steve and Tony’s body armour protected their flesh from being torn out. When they finally reached the living room, Tony shot his repulsor at the clock and Steve added an attack with his S.H.I.E.L.D.. When the clock was destroyed,the skeletons disappeared and they found the room returned to its original state, only with the added ruins of the clock. Then they heard Carol and Wanda shouting, “Where have you been, Steve, Tony?”  
  
When they gathered again in the living room, Carol and Wanda told them what had happened to them. After they found Steve and Tony missing, the corridor was lightened and they proceeded cautiously. They opened the doors one by one with their weapons ready, and then they found a nursery where a girl was chained to the wall. When they got nearer, they found that the girl had eyes of different colours and was about five or six years old. Carol approached the girl carefully because it was such a weird situation and no one could say the girl was harmless. She asked, “What’s your name? Why’re you here?”  
  
“They said I was a witch. I have to stay here forever.”  
  
Carol could read the sympathetic expression on Wanda‘s face. Carol tried to break the chain on the girl. The chain was unusually strong and didn’t give under her strength.  
  
The girl smiled at them and said, “Maybe you should kill me. I may be a witch after all.”  
  
“I don’t kill children.”  
  
“It’s fate, right? No one can get away from it,” then the girl continued. “Remember. The road in front of you diverts dramatically, and you can only choose one of the paths. Be careful.”  
She turned to Wanda and said, “Don’t worry about the people you love, and don’t forget them.”  
  
Then the room suddenly swirled and when it stopped, Carol and Wanda found themselves in an abandoned nursery. The girl was nowhere to be found.  
  
After they reported to S.H.I.E.L.D., other agents came and in the garden they found a lot of skeletons. Agent Romanova listened to their description and said that the clock would be sealed away lest it affect people any more, and wondered about the girl. “You might have encountered a temporal anomaly which allowed you to visit another time or dimension. The girl seemed to be harmless, but we'd better keep watch. The house’ll be pulled down. There will be no more murder.”  
  
When they returned to headquarters, they gathered together in Steve’s room (it was either Steve’s or Carol’s, because their rooms were among tidiest. and talked about their experience. Steve felt unnerved and despite the previous mission, he hadn't expected supernatural happenings and told them so.  
  
Tony said, “This just means that we needed to improve our equipment. Everything can be solved by science.”  
  
It was such a Tony thing to say and Steve smiled, “You believe that everything can be solved with science.”  
  
Carol was quiet and Steve asked, “Are you all right?”  
  
“I’m still thinking about the girl. Who is she, and what do her words mean?”  
  
“It seemed to be platitude given by fortune tellers and like. The words could fit everyone,” Tony said.  
  
“Maybe you’re right,” Carol smiled, but Steve had a feeling that Carol wasn’t actually relieved.  
  
Wanda said, “I don’t think they’re telling us everything, so we have to be more careful.”  
  
The others all nodded. They didn’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D. yet and S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't giving them much reason to. There was so much mystery shrouded here and they could only rely on each other.  
  
To change the topic, Steve said, “We should watch a movie together. It’s our movie night after all.”  
  
Then they launched into an argument over what to watch. Steve wanted to watch Indiana Jones. Carol wanted to watch Top Gun. Tony insisted on Star Wars. Somehow Wanda roped them into watching Die Hard. They watched the movie, ate snacks, bickered and generally had an enjoyable night despite the previous adventure.

* * *

  
Carol was dreaming. She knew that she was dreaming, but she seemed to have no control of the dream.  
  
There was a laboratory and many test tubes holding embryos were held  on a shelf. A lot of people in white were walking and talking. Carol could hear one of them say that this crop of weapon VIII should be doing fine.  
  
Then she saw herself as a little girl who was sitting with the others and listened to a strange woman telling stories to them. It sounded like an ordinary fairy tale at first but ended with gore and the moral that you could never escape from a witch.  
  
Then the scenery changed and she was in a dancing hall. Several other people were there and Carol felt a sense of affinity to them, despite her being sure that she hadn’t met them in real life. When she looked at them, she found they were grown up version of the children listening to the stories with her. One of them invited her for a dance and she accepted. When they were dancing, her partner said to her, “Be brave. Don’t forget that you’re one of us and you can’t escape your fate, but you can still fight it when the time comes.”  
  
Then the dream ended and Carol woke up, she found that she was covered with sweat. She wasn’t certain, but the dream felt real. This made her wonder: what did the dream have to do about her?  
  
She absentmindedly looked at her wrist. There was a scar here. She recalled how her mother held her arm and encouraged her to follow in her steps to be an Air Force pilot, and despite what she went through with Mark and the military, she remembered her mother’s words, “Be strong.”  
  
She stiffened her lips. Mark didn’t break her. The military didn’t break her. And she would let nothing break her.  
  


* * *

  
Wanda was dreaming. In her dream, she was a child again, playing with Pietro and other children in the village where she spent her childhood. Then one of the children said, “Have you seen that house? They said the old woman there was a witch.”  
  
Wanda shivered. Witches were very real to her, since she'd discovered her power.  
  
Soon the children dared each other to sneak in the old woman’s house. They climbed over the fence and tried to take a look inside. Then they heard an old woman’s  voice, “What’re you doing here?”  
  
The children started to run, including Wanda and Pietro. However, the old woman somehow managed to catch both of them. Instead of scolding them though, she invited them to have tea inside.  
  
The old woman let them have cake and tea, but Wanda was still cautious. The old woman was a stranger after all. She ate the cake slowly, and found that it was very delicious.  
  
After the tea, the old woman said, “I can see that both of you are special. You have ability beyond human reach, but especially you Wanda, you have hidden power inside you and you can choose what to do with it.”  
  
Wanda shook her head, full of fear. But the old woman let them go, only saying, “When you want to learn more, you can come to me.”  
  
Wanda and Pietro almost ran away from the old woman’s home. But Wanda pondered the old woman’s words. Several days later, she found herself walking to the old woman’s home secretly again.  
  
The old woman didn’t seem to be surprised and fed her just as the last time. She told Wanda to call her Agatha and told her that Wanda had the hidden talent of magic.  
  
“I’m not a witch,” Wanda said almost out of reflex.  
  
“Magic users can use their talent for good and for bad, but only those in control of their power can do real good and protect their loved one.”  
  
Wanda nodded. “Please teach me then.”  
  
Agatha smiled and waved her hand, and a candle suddenly lit up. She said, “I’m going to give you the first lesson.”  
  
After that Wanda woke up. She had to admit to herself that this was a relatively benign dream compared to her usual nightmares about Pietro. The dream felt so real, as if it had really happened in her life. Her adopted mother had taught her about the significance of dream, and she wondered about the reason behind it. She remembered how she lashed out her power without control when they were under the mob’s attack and was determined to follow her dream to control and make better use of her power.  
She took out the deck of tarot cards that she usually carried by her side, shifted it over and took the first one.  
  
It was the tower.  
  
The tower could mean change, but it could also be about a war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth. This was a card about a belief turning thought, foundation of faith shaken, and the shock that came with it. It was, quite simply, that moment in any story where someone finds out a shocking truth, one that shatters their perceptions and makes them reassess their beliefs.  
  
What changes would come about for them?  
  
This was the moment that Wanda really hoped Pietro would be here with her, so they could discuss this together. He was the closest one to her, a big brother since they were young, and Wanda had learnt to rely on him, to follow his lead, and now that he wasn’t here, she felt an empty place as if she were incomplete. When she was busy she could keep the feeling at bay, but  when the night was quiet it tangled with her. The previous search that revealed no signs of him didn’t reassure her. She could comfort herself that at least there was no evidences that he was dead, but it only was a cold comfort. She wanted her brother back, dearly. She kept thinking about Pietro until she finally fell asleep.

* * *

  
Steve was walking in a beautiful garden. It was a French style garden. Trees were planted in straight lines, carefully trimmed, and their tops  were trimmed at a set height. The garden was animated with pieces of sculpture based on mythological themes. The flowers were carefully planted. Then he saw that a boy was hiding in a corner, crying. Worried, he approached the child and asked, “Why are you crying? Where’re your parents?”  
  
The boy raised his head and Steve recognized that the boy looked like a child version of Tony. This, however, didn’t startle him, as if it were ordinary. The boy didn’t seem to be surprised to see him either and said, “They’re at a party. Jarvis is serving them.”  
  
Steve sat beside Tony and asked, “So you cry because you’re alone?”  
  
“My dog died.” the little Tony kept sobbing.  
  
“You must have loved it very much.”  
  
“He was my friend.”  
  
Steve didn’t quite know how to comfort the little Tony. He said, “Your friend’ll be in Heaven now, looking over you as always.”  
  
“You don’t know it. No one knows whether Heaven or Hell exist.”  
  
“But I know he must have loved you too, and if he really has a spirit, he‘ll be by your side.”  
  
“Thank you. You’re just trying to comfort me, but I appreciate it.”  
  
“You speak like an adult.”  
  
“Father demands it. He said  an heir to Stark Industries can’t be childish.”  
  
“Acting like your age isn’t childish.” Then Steve asked, “How old are you?”  
  
“About to be ten.”  
  
Steve suddenly realized that this Tony was about the age to meet the young Steve in real life. He said to Tony, “I guess nothing’ll replace a friend, but your heart’s big enough for another friend.”  
  
“I doubt it.”  
  
“Trust me. I know that.”  
  
“Why should I trust you?”  
  
Steve was about to say something, then he heard Jarvis calling for Tony. Tony must have heard it too, because he stood up, wiping away his tears and straightening his clothes. He said goodbye to Steve, then he went toward the direction of Jarvis’ voice.  
  
When young Tony was walking farther and farther away from him, he became smaller and his shadow paler. The world was losing its colour and finally became only black and white.  
  
Steve woke up and opened his eyes, realizing it was a dream. It was a nice dream even, the young Tony looked just like he had when they had met each other for the first time, and he could recognized that it was the garden of the Mansion when Tony invited him to come when his parents weren’t here. It must somehow have grown out of his fuzzy past memory.  
  
He looked at his alarm clock and found that it was still early, and debated whether to sleep again. Finally he decided to get up and go for early morning exercise. He finished the morning ritual, put on a sweatshirt and then left his room. On his way to the gym he impulsively checked over Tony’s lab and opened the door. Not surprisingly, he found Tony sleeping on the desk. Tony would say that Steve was humanizing him, but Tony was a human, albeit made of steel.  
  
He lightly patted Tony’s shoulder, then Tony woke up --- no gradual changes. It had been a bit creepy the first few times, but he was used to it now. He helped Tony up and walked him back to his room. On their way Tony said, “I had a dream... It’s silly.”  
  
“What’s so silly?”  
  
“I dream about my childhood. Have I told you that I had a dog when I was a child? My mother gave him to me and I loved him much. But one day he died. Hit by a car. Never know who killed  him.”  
  
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Steve said, and uncomfortably thought about his dream. He didn’t remember hearing Tony mention his dog, but he might have forgotten about it.  
  
Tony smiled, “It’s the thing I like about you. For others it’s platitude, but for you you really feel sorry.”  
  
“I’m sure...”  
  
“It’s too early for the debate.”  
  
“What are you doing here so early?”  
  
“I’m going to do some morning exercise. Care to join me?”  
  
Surprisingly, Tony said yes, shrugging that he had nothing to do for now. They went to Tony’s room so Tony could change his clothes. Then they went down to the gym. It was still quite empty.  
  
Steve started on the treadmill, lifted weight and did other exercises. He noticed that Tony was watching him keenly and assumed that Tony must be finding it new. Afterward Tony handed him a bottle of water and Steve gulped it, pouring the rest onto himself.  
  
“ I was a bit hot” Steve explained when he found Tony staring at him. Then he said to Tony, “You should do some. It’ll be good for you.”  
  
“Sweat doesn’t look good on me.”  
  
“You never sweat.”  
  
“The same principle applies.”  
  
“Come on,” Steve had an idea, “We should practice hand-to-hand training together.”  
  
“Don’t you have enough crushing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?”  
  
“ I don't crush them.  I...”  
  
“I saw their faces.”  
  
“It can train your coordination. I notice that you rely too much on your weapon in fights, but you need more hand-to-hand practice.”  
  
“I can install a chip  in my brain for it.”  
  
“It sounds dangerous, and...”  
  
“All right, I give up. Let's get to the part of man crushing” Tony said.  
  
Steve smiled and put the sparring mat on the ground. Tony had received some training, so it wasn’t necessary to only do simple block and counters or other drills. However, he still insisted on Tony doing relaxing exercises before they did some light body contact only sparring. Steve tempted Tony to throw the first punch, avoided it, and used this chance to fight back as now Tony had a lot of empty space. They sparred for some time until Steve had him on the ground.  
  
“You’re heavy. You need to get up soon,” Tony said with a strange expression.  
  
“You have to give up first.”  
  
Tony tapped three times on Steve’s side and only then he let him go.  
  
It was only then Steve recognized that he could still feel the vague sense of Tony’s lean body . He excused himself and on his way back to his room, he wondered about his reaction. He’d long known Tony was good looking, but sexual attraction... it was new. He’d better restrain himself so that he wouldn’t ruin his friendship with Tony. When he changed and went to the cafeteria again, he already put his dream out of his mind.

* * *

  
After Tony left the gym, he went to his lab again and continued his work of self-modification. There were a lot of limitation built-in to his computer mind to provide him a better pretense of being a real human, such as the need to eat, to drink, and others. By stripping them, Tony could enhance his performance and work efficiency. It was his pet project and he didn’t plan to tell anyone.  
  
Thinking about the previous scene at the gym, he found that his face heated. It was mesmerizing to look at Steve’s flexing muscles, to enjoy his fluid and graceful movement, and to be pressed close to  that perfect body... it was a bit much, though Tony’s infatuation with Steve wasn’t exactly new to him.  
  
Even to this day, Tony was thankful that his life had intersected with Steve's at such an early point. The worlds they lived in were very different: One lived in a mansion in Manhattan and went to private schools, while the other lived on the Lower East Side, with his mother striving to provide for her and her son. However, they had clicked soon after meeting and Steve became one of the most important people in his life. He went to Steve’s home almost every day when he could, and a lot of unforgettable memories were formed in the little apartment.  
  
Tony wasn’t sure when the innocent friendship grew to be a full out crush. After high school he went to MIT, while Steve went to a local college. With them separated by geographical distance, they could only rely on long distance communication and Tony’s visits back home in summer. Tony had worried that they would drift apart, with Steve meeting new people and making friends. Surely he would no longer need Tony, but fortunately their friendship only growing strong throughout the time.  
  
In his college years he dated and experimented, and Steve was the first person he told about his being bisexual. Steve’s quick acceptance and encouragement meant a lot to him. However, his dates soon complained that he seemed to be too aloof and preoccupied no matter what he tried to do for them. He wasn’t frustrated by the inevitable breakup much, but he found that he longed for the easy rapport and quiet understanding between Steve and him when he was dating. Finally he thought  he'd found the ticket when he dated Pepper, but at the end they agreed that they were better off being friends. It was also because of her that Tony began to rethink the relationship between Steve and him. He discovered that unknowingly, Steve became more than a friend to him.  
  
He didn’t make any move though. The friendship was too precious for him to risk for an impulsive act. His unspoken fear was that he didn’t exactly  have a good track record in dating and romance, and Steve definitely deserved better than to be saddled with the limelight that followed by dating a Stark. While as a friend, Steve couldn’t avoid completely the media scrutiny, even with Tony’s full protection. Steve didn’t complain, but Tony’s rich experience with the media had taught him that Steve would definitely be torn apart by them. No, better be friends, as Steve showed no indication of wanting more.  
  
After their graduation, Tony moved back to New York, and he wouldn’t admit that some of the reasons were to be able to be close to Steve. The prolonged exposure to the niceness of Steve didn’t help his crush, but he was good at hiding it. In fact, sometimes even he forgot about it. Then he would be reminded again when meeting Steve.  
  
Then Steve fell ill. It was gradual and Tony wanted to kick himself for not noticing the early signs. But Steve was very good at hiding his pain so as to not bother people and always radiated an aura to gently place concern and worry at bay. He still remembered the shock and fear when he received the call that Steve collapsed on the street, and heard the diagnosis that Steve was practically condemned to an early death by his disease. Tony couldn’t remember later how he dealt with the rest of the day.  
  
Tony remembered that he was in a continuous frantic state, trying to save Steve. Failure after failure didn’t deter him, but he hated that he was so helpless that he could only watch Steve’s gradual loss of control of his body. He put down nearly everything, trying to stay by Steve’s side every moment he could, to help and not to miss any moment that they could be together. Steve generally maintained his quiet dignity toward his disease, but once Steve sobbed in Tony’s arms and Tony wanted to make a deal with anything, just to heal Steve.  
  
Then his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and  it was Steve’s turn to comfort him. Steve and his mother were among the very few people who cared about him, and he was helpless to see them being grabbed by death. There was a dark moment in Tony’s heart when he didn’t mind if the world burned. He knew that it was wrong, that he was also shocked by the intensity of the hate, but at the moment he just couldn’t bring himself to care.  
  
Tony still hated the smell of disinfectant very much and he would like to not see the white corridors of the hospital again. It just took a toll on him and his father’s last words were the final straw. When he rigged the car, he felt nothing.  
  
And now he was a murderer. He wouldn’t deserve Steve anyway. But he’d kept him safe. At all cost.

* * *

  
It was a cold and dark night. Steve instinctively pulled his coat closer even though he no longer needed it. Their mission as briefed by Agent Romanova was to pose as exterminators to an ordinary looking building. There was not much additional information given about the mission. They investigated the building on the internet and found that there’d been complaints about vermin. Nothing seemed to be out the ordinary, but the fact that they were sent here by S.H.I.E.L.D. indicated nothing was as ordinary as it seemed to be.  
  
As planned, they arrived at the building and most of its windows were dark, except for the plant shop opening at the ground floor. A woman working inside the shop waved at them. They presented themselves as exterminators to the landlord who was very eager to receive them. “There’re so many rats and such running about. I can’t stand them, and my tenants can’t either,” she said. Steve promised to fulfill the task of cleaning out the building efficiently.  
  
When they went to the cellar first, they heard squeaking sounds from the wall, and when they fumigated the cellar, a number of strange creatures came out from the wall and floor. They had very long and sharp teeth, their nearly hairless bodies riddled with growth and calluses, and they were large. “Hive rats,” Tony shouted. Then the rats discovered them and got to attack them. They were not very fast, probably due to their size, and possibly the smoke affected them. But their teeth were very sharp and Steve had no intention of being bitten by them. They took out their weapons to kill them and it lasted for quite awhile.  
  
After cleaning up the cellar, they check the attic. This time they encountered large armored rats, that were vulnerable only at the back of the neck, just between the head and body carapace. Then wasps came, and not for the first time Steve was glad that he was wearing body armour designed by Tony.  
  
Then they came to the ground floor. A rat jumped at Steve . Only his quick instinct avoided the attack. When the light was on, Steve saw several top-heavy plants that stood 10 feet tall, with  roots looking like wrinkled tentacles, colored green and brown.  One had a giant open mouth and two dozen long spines, which peeled away from the trunk and lashed out at them. It then bent over and tried to  take Steve’s arm into its mouth.  
  
They were tough. The long spines extending from the plant's trunk moved very fast, as if they had a mind of their own. Steve’s S.H.I.E.L.D. did have an effect on them, but when he was attacking one, the other spine attacked from another direction. He looked at the others and found that bullets didn’t seem to have much effect on them. Wanda blasted her energy burst and Tony shot his repulsor at the plants and seemed to affect them, but the plants persisted. It was going to be a long and dangerous fight.  
  
When Steve was attacking one of the  plants, suddenly someone pounced on him and they both dropped to the ground. Steve looked up and realized that this was Tony, and that the spine had scored a hit, leaving marks on them. Steve then realized that if it hadn't been for Tony, Steve would have taken the hit alone. He wanted to say  thanks, but then Tony got up and they joined in the fight again. Carol managed to punch a plant  into submission and Wanda managed to burn off a spine from the plant. Then the plants released fire at them. Steve was S.H.I.E.L.D.ed from the fire by Tony, and Carol pulled Wanda out of the line of attack. It seemed to be a desperate move, as after some time, they finally managed to kill off the plants.  
  
When they were about to leave the floor, they saw a woman running away. Steve chased after and caught her, finding that she was the woman who worked in the plant shop. When they interrogated her, she finally admitted that the plants were kept by her and she kept throwing customers into the plants to feed them. “ Aren't they lovely? Hail HYDRA!”  The woman’s eyes shone with delight. Steve only found it disgusting.  
  
They contacted Agent Romanova and brought the woman  into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s custody.Later, at the debriefing Agent Romanova praised them for their quick thinking and revealed that it was suspected but not confirmed the several missing person cases in the district were related to the building. And now they knew the truth. Steve didn’t stay long after that, walking Tony to receive medical care, despite his protests that he was fine, really, but he finally surrendered under Steve’s firm eyes.  
  
When they arrived at the medical bay, Tony insisted on Steve receiving a  check up, and only then he let the doctors to look at his wounds. The outer surface was torn and there were heavy burn marks. The doctors worked on them anyway, as if there was nothing unusual. Steve looked at the area of damage and worried. When their wounds were tended, they left there and when Steve found that Tony was walking toward the lab, he firmly walked Tony back to his room.  
  
Tony said to Steve, “I’m a robot. I don’t need this kind of care!” but Steve would prefer Tony rest.  
  
Steve said, “Thanks for saving me.”  
  
Tony said, “Well, my body’s more armoured than yours, so it’s my job to protect you.”  
  
“You still don’t need to do that. It’s noble of you.”  
  
“We’re friends, right?” Tony lowered his voice, “I won’t see you dying again.” He looked totally serious. Steve didn’t know what to say for a moment, knowing that Tony was still remembering the period when Steve was in his sick bed facing his inevitable end. He knew that Tony was affected by it. He just wasn’t sure to the extent.  
“I’ll try my best,” Steve said.  
  
“I’ll hold you to it,” Tony replied.

* * *

  
Carol kept thinking about the dream. It wasn’t like her to be troubled by a figment of sleep, but somehow the dream felt significant. She would ponder about it in private further to decide its meaning.  
  
Then someone knocked her door and when she looked through the peeping hole, it was Wanda. Carol let her in and asked, “What brings you here?”  
  
“It’s that day, and I think you shouldn’t be alone.”  
  
Carol returned a blank glance at her, because she had no idea what Wanda was talking about. Then she looked at her phone and realized the significance of the date - It was the day her mother died.  
  
Carol had conflicted  emotions about her mother after she found out that her mother was involved in the military program to place Carol’s life in the military’s full control . Once she held her on some  kind of pedestal, and now... but still when she recalled her death, there was still grief in her heart.  
  
Wanda must have seen the change of her facial expression, because she suggested a walk outside the base. Carol agreed, hoping the change of scenery would improve her mood.  
  
They walked on the New York streets and talked about their recent life. Around the street corner, Carol was just listening to Wanda when she paused in the middle. On the shop window opposite her, there was a reflection of a woman’s face among the crowd, and Carol recognized the face because it had appeared in her dream. Wanda noticed and asked, “What’s the matter?”  
  
“I have to follow someone.”  
  
“Let me go with you.”  
  
Carol had no time to argue so she agreed, and tried to locate the person she saw in her dream. The crowd was moving fast but Carol finally finally managed to catch her trail before she disappeared again in the crowd. She kept sight of the woman, slipping in and out of the crowd while focusing on the target and synchronized their footsteps. She stayed a far distance away from the woman she was following and tried to act inconspicuous. She kept alert of the crowd and soon found that the woman was being followed by other people. This complicated the problem.  
  
The woman walked into a store and Carol didn’t follow her in, because the store was too small. But after waiting for half an hour, the woman still didn’t come out and Carol realized that she had lost her ---there must be a back door to the store. She noticed that the other followers still waited outside, trying to mix in with the crowd. Carol had to call it a day and returned with Wanda. When they were on the way back, Wanda asked about it and Carol explained simply that she found the woman suspicious and didn’t explain any more, and she was grateful for Wanda not pursuing this. Carol found the sight of the woman another proof that there might be something behind her dream, but now that she lost her, what should she do? She felt frustrated, but her previous training taught her not to dwell on the past uselessly.  
  
Then Wanda pulled her sleeve and Carol immediately noticed that they were being followed by the same people who had been following the woman. Carol briefly discussed her tactics with Wanda and decided to capture one of them for questioning. They feigned ignorance and continued their walk at the same speed, only now they were away from the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Finally they got to a corner and the people approached them, apparently thinking that they were going to corner Carol and Wanda and caught them unnoticed.  
  
Soon the suspicious people were the ones who dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. Carol asked, “Who send you to follow us?”  
  
No one talked at first, so Carol held one up by his neck and squeezed it. Then she threw him back to the ground. One of them then said, “Hail HYDRA! You’ll never get us as HYDRA...”  
  
“Does anyone want to receive similar treatment?” So the agents of HYDRA were following the woman. Why?”  
  
Finally they broke but Carol got very  little useful information from them. They were only given photos of four people and asked to follow them. The woman was one target and after they lost her, one of them recognized Carol from the photos, so they decided to follow her to  get back in their superiors’ favour. They didn’t know any more. Carol got the photos from them and looked.  
  
The three people other than Carol all appeared in that night’s dream.  
  
Carol and Wanda knocked them down and called S.H.I.E.L.D. to take care of them. After the HYDRA Agents were taken away, Carol and Wanda declined a ride and continued walking back to the base. Wanda kept stealing glances at her and Carol knew that she had to explain more. Therefore Carol briefly told Wanda about her dream. Wanda seemed thoughtful about it.  
Then Wanda asked, “I still don’t know what’s happened with you, the military and your mother.”  
  
Carol hesitated. How much should she tell?  
  
Looking at Wanda’s concerned face though, Carol found herself relaxing and started to tell the truth. “Have you ever watched the film The Truman Show?”  
  
“No. What’s it about?”  
  
“In the film, the protagonist Truman lives his ordinary life, doing ordinary things, but actually he is living in a constructed reality television show, broadcast 24-hours-a-day to billions of people across the globe. “  
  
“It sounds horrible.”  
  
“Yeah, and that's what I found my life to be like. From my conception, my growth in the Air Force Base to my joining the force, everything was under the surveillance of the military, everything planned. I’m just one of the experiment subjects.”  
  
“Aw, Carol,” Wanda put a hand over her shoulder. It was surprisingly warm.  
  
“It would be ironically not very shocking, it’s the military, they design the perfect soldiers, but then every death I saw and even Mark was arranged... for what I don’t know. It’s cost-intensive, so to speak, so it must have a higher objective than playing god with my life. And I dug more and more...”  
  
“It’s fine, Carol, if you don’t want to continue.”  
  
“It’s nothing, from what I can see,  another boring plan to create super soldiers. But I found out that the subjects there were terminated based on the military's will just because they didn't fit some arbitrary standard. Or they'd have nighmarish incidents that were deliberately introduced into the subject's life... The Military was playing God, and I couldn't let it continue. The military didn’t like that.”  
  
Carol paused for awhile a while. It’d been the first time she told others about this. This wasn’t something she’d want to think about. She was born and grew up as an Air Force brat; the military was pretty much ingrained in her life, then...  
  
“I tried to contact other experiment subjects, and found that some of them were recently killed for no reasons of their own. Then I found out that they were targeted by the insiders of the military. And the reason? Petty power conflict. I believe in the Force. We believe in the Force, and then... we’re slaughtered just And here came the hardest part, “I think my mother’s not just an accomplice in the plan. I think she plays a major part in it.” Wanda threw her arms around her to hug her. Carol stalled a bit, not knowing how to respond. For a while she just let herself to be held. Then she hugged back, enjoying the comfort given by her friend until her more pragmatic side realized that they were drawing attention and ended the hug. She was grateful that at least she had these friends. No matter that they were initially arranged by the force, the relationship was true.  
  
Wanda then said, “You know we’re by your side. If you need any help, do ask. Even if you just need a listening ear, we’re here.”  
  
“I will,” Carol promised.  
  
“What’s your next step?”  
  
“Well, it seemed that HYDRA was somehow connected to a certain military plan, and S.H.I.E.L.D. will be a good place for me to find out more about HYDRA, so I’ll stay here. I’ll also try to inquire about the other people in the photos “  
  
“Remember that you’re not alone.”  
  
“Thank you,” Carol said.  
  
They finally arrived at the base and separated. It was dark and they needed their rest. Carol returned to her room and looked at the photos. Next day she’d go to Tony to see if his technology savvy could help find these people before HYDRA got them. If HYDRA wanted them, these people must be significant and she had to be fast and discreet.

* * *

  
Steve had another dream again. He found himself in a corridor and tried to find an end to it, only to find two paths before him. Soon he realized he was in a maze. Then he tried to put a hand on the wall and kept turning left to find the exit,  but soon he reached a dead end. Not deterred, he tried again and somehow reached an open space, possibly the centre of the maze. There he saw a shadow, approached it, and found that it was a girl which fit Carol and Wanda’s description. He asked the girl, “How can I find a way out?”  
  
“You need to remember. The answer's in your mind, but you somehow lost it. Remember. It’s important.”  
  
“What do you mean? I have never been here before.”  
  
“They may not want you to recall it, but if you want the truth, the truth is hidden in your mind.”  
  
“Who’re you?”  
  
“I’m a figment of your imagination.”  
  
The dream ended and Steve woke out of it. He looked at his clock and found that it was still very early. He tried to sleep again but failed, so he decided to go to the gym. On his way though, he took a turn and went to Tony’s lab. He wasn’t surprised to find Tony there when he opened the door.  
  
“Tony, isn’t it time for all good robots to sleep?” Steve paused a bit on the word robot, but he knew he needed to get used to it fast, as Tony was his friend and he was ready to accept his full nature.  
  
“This robot doesn’t need sleep.” Tony looked frantic. From Steve’s experience, it meant that Tony had lost himself in another project again.  
  
“What’re you working on?”  
  
Tony told him about the project in an excited voice, and half of it went over Steve’s head, but Steve didn’t mind. He looked at Tony’s rich expression and gesture, and suddenly itched for a sketching pad. Recently his life had been too chaotic for him to sit down and draw for pleasure.  
  
After Tony had finished, Tony asked, “ Why're you here, Steve? Not just to tuck me  into bed?”  
  
“I  had a strange dream,” and Steve told Tony about it.  
  
“It’s just a dream, don’t worry so much. It’s just a figment of your subconscious..”  
  
Steve had to smile as Tony’s words exactly matched the girl in the dream. “Thank you.”  
  
Steve sat beside Tony and watched him work further on the project. It felt extremely cozy and Steve's thoughts drifted back to the times he and Tony had spent together.  
  
He met Tony through a freaking accident. He was drawing a picture in  the park and got too near  a frozen pond. He thought he was going to die when he fell into it, but Tony saved him. It was a turning point in his life in some ways, because Tony was the most loyal friend one could hope for. They grew through their school years and were only separated in their college years. He had known that Tony was lonely, as he couldn’t help but  sense it in Tony’s frequent phone call and emails. He encouraged Tony to make friends, but he admitted that a small selfish part in himself worried that he’d lose Tony to the wider world. Compared to Tony’s classmates, Steve didn’t have anything special to offer. However, when Tony returned after graduation, Steve found that their friendship still held strong despite being apart. Steve was stupidly happy for it.  
  
He still remembered when he got ill, Tony once took him out of the hospital and into a cinema totally reserved just for the two of them, with snacks of all kinds and a selection of movies for them to choose from. He laughed at a romantic comedy and Tony patiently sat through it. Steve was forever thankful for Tony to see his need and work to cheer him up. He clung to the memory of that day for comfort during his hospital stay.  
  
He tried to think about his life before he met Tony, and... it was strange, but there was a hole in his memory that no matter how he tried, he couldn’t remember. He knew what was supposed to be happening, but his memories didn’t feel real enough to him, as if he was reading them from a book. He couldn’t help but think about the dream. Had he forgotten something important?  
  
Tony must have noticed the weird expression on Steve’s face, because he asked, “What’s happened?”  
  
“It’s nothing... I found that there was a blank in my childhood memory. I just can’t recall it.”  
  
Tony looked worried, and he said, “I find that I have a similar problem. I was programmed to ignore discrepancies like a human would, but there are still things I can't access, as if someone has locked them. I suspect that it’s my father or his employee’s doing, and I’m trying to break the lock.”  
  
“Will it be dangerous?” Steve asked with concern. Tony’s father wasn’t a kind person, let alone a good father, but why’d he do this to his son? And was it safe to work on your brain, albeit electronic, this way?  
  
“It’ll be all right. Your memory loss... Do you want to try recover it? I’m not so familiar with human biology, but...”  
  
“It’s not urgent.” Steve asked,  What's your future plan?”  
  
“Staying here for awhile to make use of the support here. Fighting monsters was fun and all, but …” Tony whispered, “I don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D..”  
  
“Me neither.”  
  
They were both quiet for awhile. Then Steve said, “I also wonder about Konrad. What kind of purpose did he have? Are there any other victims? And...”  
Tony put his hand over Steve’s. “I’ll help you. We’re friends, right?”  
  
“You’re my best friend,” Steve said, and noticed there was a strange glint in Tony’s eyes, but it went so fast that he must have imagined it.  
Steve continued to sit by Tony, keeping Tony company until it was the morning and he left, not reminding Tony that he’d wait for Tony for more sparring exercises.

* * *

  
  
Tony decided to take a break over the project and only then he let the worry show on his face. The memory block in his brain was more complex than he'd told Steve, and he found that he was strongly conditioned to not to remove the memory block. This only made him more determined to retrieve the memory.  
  
He also thought of Steve’s mention of his dream and memory loss. Tony couldn’t just laugh it away as the world seemed to have too many weird things for him to ignore  anything odd. If someone or something was tinkering with Steve’s brain... Tony stiffened his lips. He wouldn’t let the person easily get away. Not at all.  
  
Tony bit his lips. As  he'd said to Steve, human physiology wasn’t his strength, but he would look into it as much as possible. Tony noted it down as his next project.  
  
Then he thought about the sparring exercise waiting for him and he suppressed a groan. It was both painful and pleasing to spar with Steve, to be tossed onto the mat, to have his body over him. He guessed it would be easier to adapt fighting stills into his programming, but he found that he was strangely looking forward to the slower sparring exercises. He put down his tools and cleaned up the desk, then locked his lab and went to the gym to join Steve.  
  
After sparring, which as Tony predicted involved a lot of being thrown down, they took a shower and changed. Then Steve took him out of the base, saying that Tony needed a break. Tony gave in, but not before extracting a promise that Steve’d come with him to an auto show.  
  
They walked outside the base and went to a cafe, where Tony ordered the strongest coffee on offer. Their  relaxation time was soon disturbed when some HYDRA agents crashed into the shop and went straight for Steve and Tony. Steve threw his cup of coffee at one one agent's eyes, and kicked him down. When another pounced at him, Steve threw him over his shoulder. Tony was doing well too. Soon they had the agents under control and called for S.H.I.E.L.D. to handle  clean up. During the waiting, Tony asked why they were going after them, but the agents only shouted, “Hail HYDRA!” Tony finally gave up as he couldn’t get any useful information from them. He was annoyed that his downtime had been disturbed, and decided to look into HYDRA further.  
When the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents came to collect the HYDRA agents, Steve and Tony returned to the base On the way Steve said, “Do you think the agents have a specific target?”  
  
Tony answered, “I’m not sure, but we should be low-profile enough not to be specifically attacked.”  
  
Steve nodded, “You’re right. I wish they hadn't come. You need more fresh air.”  
  
“You always say that.”  
  
“Because it’s true.”  
  
Then they said  goodbye to each other, parted and went  about their respective daily routine.

* * *

  
Tony got all his devices and equipment ready, having already made a full memory backup in preparation for discovering the repressed memory. The strong conditioning against it only strengthened his motivation as he couldn’t allow himself to remain willfully ignorant, no matter what price he needed to pay.  
  
He sealed the lab off, switched on the device and started the process of unlocking his memory.  
  
Then he saw an avatar of a little girl with differently-coloured eyes smiling before him. A warning box appeared above her. “Warning: Attempt to unlock memory may lead to unpredictable negative effects. Proceed: Y/N?”  
  
“Yes,” Tony said. There was no reason to stop at this moment.  
  
“Good luck then!”  The girl disappeared and white light appeared before him. He knew that it was the sign that the machine was working.  
  
He was floating in a giant bubble, and watched his memory unfolding before him. He saw that a younger version of him, about twelve or thirteen, was smiling at Steve in a garden.  Steve was saying something to Tony and Tony leaned near to hear it. It seemed to be a peaceful scene, and somehow Tony knew that it would soon change.  
  
There was a gunshot, and Steve collapsed. Young Tony caught Steve in his arms, with Steve’s blood all over him. Tony looked up and saw his father with a gun, smoke emitting from it.  
  
“This was a lesson to you, Anthony,” his father  said. “Don’t try to disobey your parents. Only the very strong deserve their own belongings.”  
  
Then Tony’s mother appeared and her voice was like steel. “Howard!”  
  
“I’m just trying...”  
  
“Jarvis, do first aid and call a doctor here. Don’t let the boy die,”  
  
“Maria!”  
  
“Like you, Howard, I don't like to be disobeyed either.”  
  
After treatment Steve’s eyes were closed, but Tony could see the rise and fall of his chest. The memory ended with his mother’s gentle word: forget.”  
  
Tony was thrown to reality. He disconnected the device and found that his hands were shaking. He remembered everything now.  
  
The sunlight that shone on Steve’s golden hair, the way he smiled at him, the gunshot, blood, Steve collapsing, He was so certain that Steve was going to die, and he would have, if not for Tony’s mother’s intervention. Tony had been totally useless. Worse, he'd brought Steve into danger. His father only wanted to make an example, and if he hadn’t befriended Steve, nothing would have happened. Steve would have been fine.  
  
He couldn’t help but rethink most of his life, enjoying his friendship with Steve and relying on him blissfully, never knowing that he practically painted a target on Steve’s back. He always thought Steve was too good for him, but he never realized how true it was.  
  
“I don’t deserve you,” Tony spoke again and again to himself, and surprised to find that his face was wet.  
  
Though now wasn’t the time to be idle. He needed to consider his next move. His father was dead, but people might still try to get to him through Steve. There was no use cutting off the relationship and pushing Steve away. Steve was too stubborn to allow it. Therefore he had to take a preemptive strike to remove Steve’s and his own enemies, to keep Steve safe.  
  
He had failed Steve once. He couldn’t let it happen twice.  
  
Only after making the decision Tony realized that someone’d been pressing the doorbell. He opened the door and found that it was Steve, his face worried. “Are you all right? You’ve spent a long time in here and...”  
  
“I’m all right, just working too hard and forgetting the time.” Tony looked at his face and this time felt an additional guilt. Did Steve remember it? Tony seriously doubted it. Was it why Steve had a memory loss? How could you ask for an absolution when the one you sinned against had no idea what your crimes were?  
  
Steve gently patted his shoulder, “Tony, I know you love your work, but don’t  push yourself too hard. No matter what you are, you need rest. Why don’t we just watch a movie, or go to the auto show together like you said”  
  
 _Do I deserve your companionship any more?_ , Tony thought. Finally he submitted to Steve’s puppies eyes and they started a movie in Tony’s room.  
  
Usually Tony would lean near Steve, stealing the space between them. Now  Tony felt conscious and awkward. He let Steve choose the movie, and didn't even mock his taste once. It had been enjoyable to be with Steve before, but now every time he looked at Steve he saw the blood on him. It was painful for Tony to sit through the movie. Steve must have noticed it, but Tony was grateful Steve didn’t comment on it.  
  
After the movie, Tony waved away at Steve and took a rest. Then he had a vision. The avatar version of the girl appeared again, and text appeared below her, which read “Truth hurts. Remember Orpheus.”  
  
“The process must have disturbed my electronic brain function,” Tony said to himself.  
  
The the words changed and another line of words appeared, “Don’t let your father win. The game isn’t over.” Then the image and the words disappeared, leaving Tony wondering what’d happen.

* * *

  
“This time, your mission is to get a hat,” Agent Romanova said.  
  
“A hat?”  
  
“Yes. This hat may hold the key to world peace or secret to immortality. You have to retrieve it as soon as possible, and the cost can be irrelevant,” she said. Then she declined to explained more despite the team’s questions, only  gave them briefing documents and left them in the meeting room.  
  
According to the document, the hat was in the possession of HYDRA agents and it was magical, so to get it, the team had to retrieve it from a HYDRA base. Agent Romanova gave them the blueprint of the base, but the rest was left to them to plan. Steve sometimes wondered whether it was a good thing they were given so much freedom yet so little information. It had to be assumed that the HYDRA agents knew the importance of the hat, so it would be heavily guarded. The team was allowed a bigger budget and wider choice of weapons to choose from, but they settled with their own reliable weapons. They trained and fought with them. It would not be very convenient to change for the newer  ones.  
  
The HYDRA base was located in a commercial building, probably as a disguise. It added to the uncertainty of the mission, as not all the tenants of the buildings were HYDRA agents. The team had to be discreet, fast, and avoid fighting as much as possible. It wouldn't be easy, and both Carol and Steve frowned at the limitation. Then Carol raised her chin and smiled, “It’ll be a great challenge.” Steve had to smiled. It was so much like Carol to throw in ruthlessly after she knew the risks. They went back to the drawing table and finally decided on their plan.  
  
They went to the cleaning company responsible for the S.H.I.E.L.D. building and stole uniforms from them, so they could disguise themselves as cleaning staff to lessen the suspicion. They researched the routine of the other tenants in the building through surveillance, and stayed in position past closing time, then they started their mission. To avoid the security camera, they climbed through the elevator shaft to the target floor. Tony helped them to get through the lock and deactivated the surveillance camera so they could sneak in to the objective quietly, attracting as little attention as possible.  
  
The fight to get to the safe room was inevitable though. They fought with the HYDRA agents guarding the safe. Steve threw  his S.H.I.E.L.D. at one of the agents, and it ricocheted back in time to knock down another. Carol threw a punch at the other agent, and from the way he was thrown to the wall, she didn’t pack a light punch. Wanda lured the agents together and blasted at them, producing a domino effect, throwing them to the ground. Tony ambushed them from the air, and fired repulsor shots at them. Finally the HYDRA agents were defeated and the team disarmed them and tied them up before getting to the safe holding the hat.  
  
The safe was the hardest part. There was a complex combination needed for the safe, and it was the only method to open the safe. They tried other, more brutal methods in vain. Tony also stated that there was not much space for error. He found that the safe was set to self-destruct after a certain number of errors. Steve looked at Tony trying to get the combination right and his hands started to sweat. His worry wasn’t entirely for the success of the mission - he trusted Tony - but there was always chance for something to go wrong, and HYDRA reinforcements might come any time. The team waited, sensing the seconds passing by. Finally Tony laughed and the safe was open. “They didn’t even bother changing the password since it has been bought. the factory password.”  
  
There was a shoe box inside the safe. On the shoe box, handwritten with a fat felt-tip pen, were the words “In this box are the memories of Michael Perry.” When they opened the box, there was a wool cap, which fitted the photo on their briefing document. Then the plan came to the most important part, to escape from the building. They couldn’t rely on the same path of entry to leave the building, so the plan was to go to the top of the building and jump down with the parachutes they'd packed. They quickly climbed the stairs, and went to the top of the building, which was beyond the elevator shaft. At the rooftop, they put on their parachutes and got ready to jump together in the side away from the sun?.  
  
When they jumped, the air rushed through against Steve’s ears and he felt his blood rushing. He had tried parachuting before, but it was completely different from jumping from the top of the building in a local area base jumping from a skyscraper. There wasn’t much space to adjust their position and the landing site. Hopefully, they’d reached the car roof they were supposed to land on.  
  
They landed on the relatively soft ground and ran for their car.  When Tony started the car driving, Steve could see from the rear window that they were being followed. Someone from the car behind them took out a gun and Tony Tony zigzagged to lower their chance of being hit. Even with the seat belt, Steve Steve was jerked back and forth by the car's movement. The ensuing car chase was something like an action film: Tony drove at top speed, skillfully avoiding the car following them and squeezing through every space to get ahead of their relentless pursuers. Finally they got rid of them and returned toS.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.  
  
Tony asked Natasha what the hat really was, and she finally replied, “This hat contains the memory, or even the soul, of a person as the result of a magic ritual. We believe that the HYDRA agents  were studying the hat to understand its magic spell in their search for immortality.”  
  
“Why don’t didn't you tell us before?”  
  
“It’s It was irrelevant to the mission.  You did a good job. Now dismissed.”She left with the hat.  
  
Tony said, “Why not take a walk outside?”  
  
“I’m glad that you’re finally persuaded the goodness accepted the benefit of fresh air,” Steve smiled at him.  
  
Carol stood up and said, “I don’t want to disturb you two any more. Leaving now, Later.” She left the room with Wanda.  
  
“Maybe... let’s go,” Tony said.  
  
Steve was glad of Tony’s invitation. Recently Tony had been acting weird. Steve wanted to know what’d happened and if they could fix it. He found himself deeply missing the easy camaraderie between them. Tony was his best friend, an important person to him. Steve didn’t want to lose him.  
  
This time they went for a walk outside the base and Tony led him into a shop that sold records, 1920’s movie posters and other collectibles like that. Steve beamed at Tony and lost track of time browsing. When they walked outside and got ready to return, Steve felt happy.  
  
Then he glimpsed a red dot of light aimed at Tony and, without thinking, Steve pounced on Tony to S.H.I.E.L.D. him from the coming bullet. He felt the red hot pain of being shot. The last thing he saw was Tony’s frightened face. Steve wanted to comfort him but couldn’t make his lips to move. He quickly lost consciousness.  
  
Tony couldn’t quite remember how he carried Steve back to the medical bay of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He remembered insisting that the doctors adjust the dose of painkillers for Steve's metabolism, then waited frantically outside for the surgery.  He gasped when the doctor came out looking grim, only to be assured that Steve would be all right.  
  
Tony asked to visit Steve and went into his room as soon as he was allowed. He sat by Steve and saw his pained pale face. Guilt was like lead in his body. The target hadn't been Steve. He had been hurt because of Tony again. Tony was selfish enough to keep Steve for company, and now he saw the result.  
  
Then he heard Carol’s footsteps and she arrived, pulling a chair over to sit by Tony. “What happened? Are you all right? What  did the doctor say?”  
  
“They said Steve would recover soon. There was a sniper and Steve took the hit for me.. He didn’t need to... If only...”  
  
“Stop wasting the energy to blame yourself. Better use the effort to find the shooter and get revenge for Steve.”  
  
Carol’s words might sound harsh, but Tony knew that she was saying it for his good. “I’ll get to it, after I rest for awhile.”  
  
“All right. Just don't convince yourself that you don't deserve Steve's friendship and keep away from him like you did recently. I don’t know what happens between you both, but I know it  made you miserable. So stop it.”  
  
Tony wasn’t prepared for Carol’s sharp insight. Finally he said, “All right.”  
  
“I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Wanda’ll knock.”  Carol left.  
  
Tony held Steve's hand in his own. He hated the smell of hospitals since he’d spent a lot of time in them for his mother and Steve. The smell wasn't any better in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical bay.  Steve’s hand was cold and he rubbed it up, trying to warm it. Then he finally stood up and left. He had a shooter to catch.  
  
Tony collected all the information he could: the  footage recorded by  local security cameras, and witnesses’ testimonies. Then he pieced together a rough picture of the shooter. He ran the picture through the national database and found a possible match. Then he told his discovery to Carol and Wanda. They got prepared and go conduct a search  for the shooter.  
  
No one could hurt their own and get away with it.

* * *

  
It wasn’t an easy search. The target was cunning and moved from motel to motel, but a credit card use finally exposed her exact location at a motel nearby. Tony, Carol and Wanda sneaked into the motel and reserved rooms on the same floor as their target. They waited in the rooms for the target to appear, and then they pulled her into their room. Their target put up a good struggle, but she was no match for the three of them together.  
  
They then tied the target up to the chair and surrounded her. Tony pulled out a photo of Steve and asked, “Do you know this person, Ms Victor?”  
  
“Of course. I know. Did I kill him?”  
  
“We only want to establish the fact that you’re the shooter. His current state is no concern of yours,” Carol said.  
  
“Then he must be still alive. Pity. I’ll try again until he’s in the hell reserved for him.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“He killed my father. My father healed him free of charge. This person killed my father brutally.”  
  
“ Who was your father?”  
  
“Dr. Konrad Victor.”  
  
“Your father tricked desperate people into a deadly experiment for his own gain.”  
  
“Is it a lie he tells you? It’s definitely untrue. The patients were dying anyway. They should be grateful to be given a chance. They were useless anyway.”  
  
Tony was angry inside. After he had heard about Steve’s experiences, he was angry that Steve was taken advantage of, angry that his uselessness might have pushed Steve into desperation, and now this woman...  
  
“We have enough evidence to send you for a murder trial. Enjoy the electrical chair or the syringe.”  
  
“I won’t. I have money, an innocent face, and my motive’s totally noble. The court won’t get me.”  
  
The three agents were quiet. They didn’t have much trust in the judicial system either. What she said could worryingly became true. Steve would be involved in this, which Tony wanted to avoid. He didn’t deserve it. .  
  
“We can kill you here,” Tony said. Even he was surprised by the coldness in his voice.  
  
“You won’t!” The woman must have sensed that Tony was being very serious and her voice started to shake.  
  
“No one knows you’re here. If we kill you, no one will find out for a long time, and you will pay a suitable price,” Tony said. At first it was was just a thought, but now that he dwelt on it, he could find the merit of the idea.  
  
“You’ll be caught! I have powerful friends...”  
  
“Not if we get to you first,” Carol said.  
  
Tony was surprised by Carol agreeing to his idea. But Carol was a military woman. She had killed. Killing wasn’t such a foreign idea to her.  
  
“Tony, Carol?” Wanda asked.  
  
“It could be a good solution. We wouldn't need to worry about her any more,” Carol said.  
  
“But killing someone...”  
  
“She should have been prepared for the penalty when she decided to be a killer. Kill or be killed. She already made her choice.”  
  
The woman must have seen Wanda was the more soft-hearted one among them, so she pleaded to Wanda, “Don’t let them kill me!”  
  
“ How else do we deal with her? She said she had money. She said she had friends. We can’t let her loose.”  
  
“You’re right, but still...”  
  
“Wanda, Carol... maybe you can leave me alone with her. You two don’t need to get involved.”  
  
“This isn’t the time to be stupid, Tony. We’re in it together,” Carol said. “Wanda though, you don’t need to get involved in it.”  
  
“There’s no way. If there's blood it will be on all of our hands. I won’t escape my share of the guilt.” Then Wanda paused.  “Maybe we don’t need to kill her. Maybe we can...”

* * *

  
She felt delighted. She couldn’t tell why, but she could feel that there was a burden lifted off her. She didn't know where she was or why she was there, but she knew she had parties to go to, friends to meet. In fact, she was just having a blind date. She passed by a table with a man and two women, throwing a glance and completely  forgetting them.  
  
The three of them saw the woman going on a new life, completely forgetting who she was. Wanda said, “It’s extreme, but at least she  can lead a new life now.”  
  
Tony said, “Yes, I agree with you.” It neutralized the threat against Steve without actually killing (Tony knew that Steve had a weird no-kill hang up.) And in a way, it was a better punishment as Tony would see a total erasure of memory a fate worse than death. Which was fitting. He saw on Carol’s face that she agreed too.  
  
Now it was time for them to tie up the loose ends.

* * *

  
Tony was there to see Steve open his eyes. Steve healed fast, because of his treatment, but Tony was still worried. He smiled at Steve and put a hand on his.  
  
“Water...” Steve said, and Tony helped him up, poured a cup of water for him and helped him drink.  
  
After Steve had drunk the water, he said, “Tony, are you all right? Did the person get you?”  
  
Tony couldn’t quite describe his feeling. It was Steve who was hurt, and he was thinking about Tony even when he had just woken up. “I’m all right. You should worry about yourself. Don’t do stupid thing like this again.”  
  
“What about the shooter? Is the person caught”  
  
“She was an agent of HYDRA. Killed when she resisted arrest,” Tony lied, not feeling any guilt.  
  
“No other people got hurt?”  
  
“No. The only casualty ‘s you.”  
  
Tony could see Steve’s eyelids were drooping and knew that he was going to sleep again. He stayed for a while after Steve slept, letting the sound of Steve’s breath comfort him.

* * *

  
Carol and Wanda were together in a room as Wanda asked, “ Were you serious about killing the woman?”  
  
Carol said, “It was more as a threat,  but I wouldn't have stopped Tony. The woman did present constant threat to one of us. I  know it sounds really cold-blooded ”  
  
“No, I can understanding the reasoning, but I prefer letting people have a second chance. No one gave it to Pietro and me.”  
  
“Aww, Wanda,” Carol said, and patted Wanda’s shoulder clumsily, trying to give comfort.  
  
“It’s fine. Now she has a chance and Steve can be safe. I’m glad it’s solved this way.”  
  
“Me too.” To change the topic, Carol said, “I borrowed a game console from a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. We can play on it together.”  
  
“It sounds great. I haven’t played on one, but I heard that it was interesting.”  
  
“Then you really have to play.”  
  
They started the game and soon Carol was reminded of the more relaxing days when she played such games with her comrades back at the bases. Although sometimes she wanted to discard her life altogether as it was fake in a way, but but there were memories worth treasuring.  
  
After they finished the game and Carol mentioned how fast she got to master it, Wanda said, “I want to show you something.” and took out a bunch of dice. She threw them on the table and all of them landed with the six facing up.  
  
Carol was interested and asked, “Is it some of your new power?”  
  
“Yes, I dreamt about being trained in magic, then recently I discovered that I could manipulate probabilities. Like what I did with the dice.”  
  
“It’ll be very useful.”  
  
“I’m glad you think so.”  
  
“Now we can have Murphy’s Law working on our side. The uses are endless. What about...”  
  
They discussed magic in practice for the whole afternoon. Wanda’s face glowed with excitement, and Carol found it attractive. She put the thought away. She really was too busy to deal with acknowledging her bisexuality now. Instead she chose to focus on the topic they were discussing.  
  
After  that Carol began to feel hungry, and she suggested eating in the cafeteria, considering that so many troubles happened outside. They shared their food and continued to talk. Carol found that it was like being back in the more innocent days with her friends, and she was glad  for it.  
They finished  their dinner and then when they left the cafeteria, on the corridor back to their rooms, Wanda said, “Can I ask you a favour?”  
  
“Sure. What is it?”  
  
“If my power gets out of control again, can you stop me at any price?”  
  
“I’ll always try to save you and stop you. But why ask?”  
  
“You know how I came to be in New York. If that happened again, with my power enhancement, I worry...”  
  
“Don’t worry too much. Compared to then, you’re now much more trained and well controlled. And you have us. We’ll always be at your side and never give you up.”  
  
“Thank you for your kind words.”  
  
“I mean it,” Carol said seriously.  
  
Wanda smiled and said, “Thank you, Carol. I’m glad I have you as a friend. You’re an important friend to me.”  
  
“Thank you,” Carol said, warmed by Wanda’s  words.  
  
“We’re friends. There’s no need to thank each other.”  
  
After that, they both returned to their. rooms. Carol could sense that she would have a good night of sleep.

* * *

  
Wanda had another dream in the same wooden house  with the same old woman. She was teaching Wanda about chaos magic again. Chaos magic was a double-edged sword and grace and precision were needed to control it. However, it was powerful. With a gesture and concentration, Wanda could manipulate probabilities, causing beneficial and negative effects at will. Wanda experimented with it and caused a small lightning bolt inside the house. Agatha took her to the back yard, pointed a finger, and made a tree shake. Then she shook her hand and several leaves fell from the branches, doing a complicated dance in the air before falling to the ground. She taught Wanda that it was easier to cause great effect than delicately handling matters, but she was certain that Wanda could master it.  
  
Then Wanda asked Agatha, “What if my power went out of control? Will I be dangerous to other people?”  
start a new paragraph here Agatha stressed the importance of will, training and support. “You have the strong will to master your power. You receive training to help you control your power. Remember you’re not alone. You can be more confident in yourself and bring the power to great use, or let fear masked mask your potential. It ‘s all up to you.”  
include a blank line here “But...”  
  
“Trust yourself. Trust your friends. They’ll be always there for you. Now, let’s practice...”  
  
When Wanda woke up from the dream, she felt much more refreshed and she used a hex bolt to open the door. Now she could see the probabilities leading to different  events more clearly thanks to her dream. She could see a path where she stayed in bed all day, a path where she went to the cafeteria, and a path  where she went elsewhere. She went to the  cafeteria to eat breakfast, then she visited Steve on his sick bed.  
  
It was strange to step into the ward as the smells were very unfamiliar to her. She had only been to the emergency room and never been admitted to a hospital. When she arrived at the ward, she soon realized that Steve was fine, sitting up to talk with Tony. It was a very cozy image and she didn’t want to disturb it. However, when she thought of leaving Steve saw and waved at her. She came to him and asked, “How're you? Do you feel all right?”  
  
“I'm fine, thanks. How about you?”  
  
When Steve and Tony heard about her new power, they were glad for her and discussed with her the many uses for it.  
“Now that probability is on our side, it will make our missions go much smoother. Hey, we can make a quantum computer using her power, and it'll be awesome.”  
  
Wanda had to smile. It was so Tony to think of anything related to technology. Then Carol came too and they relaxed by Steve’s bed side until Steve looked tired. It was a nice morning.

* * *

  
When Steve was recovered enough, they received another mission. Agent Romanova briefed them to say that their goal was to  investigate a town where another team of agents was missing. They hadn’t reported back since missing a check in and S.H.I.E.L.D. was getting concerned. Steve and the others were sent to find out what’d happened to the last team of agents and rescue them if possible. They flew to the nearest airport, then drove the rest of the way to their destination.  
  
They didn’t see  many people when entering the town, and there was heavy mist surrounding it. The town was quiet. The shops were closed, and there were no people outside. The classical style library seemed to need maintenance urgently. They went to the only motel in the town and checked in, but the counter clerk was dozing when they entered and was only awoken after several tries. The clerk said the motel was nearly full and there were only two double room left, despite the empty lobby. They doubted it, but the clerk was insistent so they took the two rooms. They also asked the clerk about the missing agents, and the clerk recognized them checking in, but didn’t remember whether they checked out. It sounded not very possible,  and the clerk was silent afterward. They gave up for now and split the rooms, Steve with Tony and Carol with Wanda. After they put down their light luggage they left the motel and went to the town centre according to the map.  
  
On their way, the mist grew heavier and heavier and finally they couldn’t even see what was ahead. They decided to return, treading the same path, but couldn’t find  their way again. They were lost. They waited for the mist to disperse to no avail, and started to discuss what to do next. They decided to turn west, because based on their memory it was the way they got to the town. After they started walking for awhile, Steve found that he was separated from the others. He shouted their names, to no response. He tried to call them with the mobile phone, but there was no connection. He was pretty much on his own now. After thinking for awhile, he decided to continue going west. As they were going in the same direction, they should meet at the end. Failing that, it was getting colder and staying at the same place would get more dangerous.  
  
Then he saw a shadow of a person and he went toward it cautiously, the mist seeming to disperse gradually and the shadow became clearer. It was a skeleton, which tried to pounce on him. Steve avoided the attack and started to run in the opposite position, and he found that the skeleton was joined by others.  
  
Wind rushed by Steve’s ears, which were filled with the clanking sound of the skeletons’ bone bones rubbing against each other. A smell of dead flesh spread toward him, the skeletons getting faster and faster...  
  
Then suddenly he found himself in a garden planted with flowers that should not have blossomed at the same time. He surveyed the garden carefully, mindful of the carnivorous plants and skeletons they had previously encountered.  
  
Then he heard a clear and light voice and turned to the direction of the sound. It was a little girl, holding a doll in her arms. Steve recognized that he had seen the girl before and became more cautious. He stayed in place and asked, “Who’re you?”  
  
“Take a seat. It’s about to be tea time and you’re our first guest,” the girl said.  
  
“Where’re my teammates?”  
  
“I don’t know who your teammates are.”  
  
“The people who came with me? Are they all right? Do the...”  
  
The girl insisted on his sitting down.  Seeing no alternatives, Steve took a seat and busily thought of plans. Then he looked  into the tea cup before her and paused.  
  
He saw a vision of Tony.

* * *

  
When Tony realized he was lost, he checked the tracker and found that there was no signal. Electronic devices didn’t seem to be functioning. Tony frowned and worried about his teammates. Where were they?  
  
Then a skeleton arm came out of nowhere and grabbed for Tony.

* * *

  
“Tony, look out!” Steve shouted. He wasn’t sure whether Tony could hear him, but he tried anyway. The girl looked at him weirdly and asked, “Who’s Tony?”  
  
“He’s my friend.”  
  
“But does he only think of you as a friend?”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
The tea swirled, and the image floating on the tea cup started to become unclear. Steve returned his attention to it, his hand starting to sweat. Was Tony all right?”  
  
When the image was clear again, he saw that someone was holding Tony up by his neck. What had happened?

* * *

  
“You killed me,” the man holding Tony’s neck said. He had the same face as Tony.  
  
If Tony was human, he would suffocate. But he wasn’t, so he continued to struggle. The man ‘s hand didn’t waiver though.  
  
“Who’re you?”  
  
“I’m the real Tony Stark.”  
  
“So? I had nothing to do with your death even if you are.”  
  
“You did, or you will. And you have to pay for it.”  
  
“Do whatever you want as there seems to be no reasoning with you.”  
  
“Look,” the man said and Tony heard a very familiar voice. Steve’s voice. Was he...  
  
Then the man released Tony and Tony started to focus his repulsor shot, but now he heard Steve groaning in pain. He turned to the sound and saw that Steve was strapped to a surgery bed, screaming.  
  
“Stop it,” Tony said, and tried to rush to Steve’s side, but something blocked him from entering.  
  
“Do you want to save him?”  
  
“Yes,”  
  
“Then,”  A saw appeared in the man’s hand and cut down Tony’s arm. Tony screamed.

* * *

  
  
“No!” Steve shouted.  
  
He tried to reach for Tony in vain. Couldn’t he do anything for Tony?  
  
The man handed the severed arm to a soldier, who came out from the mist and entered the surgery room where Steve was held. The vision Steve went mad at the sight and pounced for the doctor...  
  
“So it ‘s that? It’s all my fault!” Steve said.  
  
Then the scene in the teacup changed again and the vision Tony disappeared. Steve reached for the girl and found that she had disappeared along with the desk and everything else. Now he was in at Stark Mansion.  There was a boy playing with some toys. He recognized him as a younger version of Tony.  
  
Then  Steve was joined by the current one-armed Tony, who looked about as shocked as him. “Why’re you...” they asked at the same time. Steve looked at Tony’s wound worriedly and said, “How... It’s my fault that...”  
  
Steve’s words were cut short by Tony. “No, it’s my stupidity.” Then Tony paused, “Do you see everything?” He must have read it from Steve’s face though, because Tony looked depressed and said, “Yet you still... Now’s not the time to discuss this. We have to leave.”  
  
The next second they found that they were surrounded by agents of HYDRA. The child Tony seemed to be too shocked to move. Steve and Tony looked at each other.  The HYDRA agents opened fire, which Steve and Tony tried to evade before attacking. They knocked out several of the agents, and then they heard a child’s scream. The boy was shot. The HYDRA agents paused in their action and Steve ran to the boy, pressing his wound through the clothes to stop the blood flow. But it flowed rapidly. Then Steve sensed a strong power pulling him back. He tried to struggle, but felt himself losing consciousness.  
  
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Tony leaning over him, saying his name again and again. Steve asked, “What about the child?”  
  
“I don’t know. A force seemed to be pulling you and when I caught you, it took me too. When I opened my eyes again, I found us here.”  
  
Steve looked around and found that they were in the first garden again, with the flowers and desks and the tea. Then the little girl appeared and said, “Come and have tea with us!”  
  
“What’re you doing to us?”  
  
“You did everything. I only invited you to have tea with me.”  
  
Steve didn’t know how to reply, because she seemed to be right.  
  
Tony said to the girl, “Let us go.”  
  
“I can’t. We need two more people for tea time.”  
  
Steve and Tony looked at each other and saw the same thought in each other’s eyes: Was she talking about Carol and Wanda? Were they in her hands too?  
  
“What do you know about the other two?” Steve asked.  
  
“They’ll arrive at the right time, just like you two.”  
  
So they could only wait here? “What about the boy?” Steve asked. “Is he all right?” The boy should be all right, right? Because Tony was here ... but wait a minute, the boy was bleeding, and Tony wouldn’t bleed...  
  
The girl asked with a smile, “You get it, right?”  
  
There were so many things on Steve’s shoulder. He had witnessed how he killed a man in cold blood and caused a boy's death, but his Tony wouldn’t be here if not for the death... Guilt only tangled his heart and extended its thorn further as he couldn’t imagine a world without his Tony.  
  
Then he felt Tony’s hand on his shoulder “I’m sorry... So, I wronged you”  
  
“What?”  
  
“It was my fault that the boy died. And if not for me, the man wouldn’t use me to hurt you. It’s all my fault.”  
  
“What’re you saying? It’s mine!”  
  
“Steve!”  
  
“Tony!”  
  
They stared at each other until they heard the little girl. .”Hey, why don’t you sit down and drink tea? We don’t like arguing.”  
  
Steve suddenly felt a bit silly for shouting at Tony like this. The tension started to disappear, though the guilt was still here. Steve sat down at his chair. After a moment, Tony sat down too. There was another cup of tea for Tony, which hadn't been there before. The girl must have poured it during their absence. Steve looked at his cup of tea and saw nothing now. He looked at Tony’s and found the same. There were no hints about Carol’s or Wanda’s whereabouts.  
  
What should he do?  
  
Steve felt helpless.

* * *

  
“Wanda! Steve! Tony!" Carol shouted. The strong mist blocked the way ahead and she checked that  her phone wasn’t functioning. It felt like the set up of a good horror movie, Carol thought.  
  
She decided that she might as well go ahead. There was no use staying in the same place.  Some sense told her that she should go west, so she followed it.  
  
When she continued to walk, she reached a wooden hut, which should never have been here in the first place. She opened the door, and found that the hut was full of her photos from different ages and a lot of document files. She opened some of them and found that they were all about her: psychological profiles, details of her life. They were so intrusive that Carol found it creepy.  
  
Why were they here?  
  
Then she heard a male voice from the inside of the hut and she froze. She wouldn’t mistake the voice.  
  
It was Mark’s.  
  
“What ‘re you doing here?” Carol asked. He almost ruined her life, and now... she wouldn’t let him get away so easily.  
  
“You think you can get away from me so easy, little Carol? Shocked to find that I have the whole military as backup? They authorized me to do everything.”  
  
Carol tightened her fist. This discovery was one of the nasty facts she found back on the road, but she wouldn’t be affected so much now. In the past she would have thought that  it was impossible, but she had changed.  
  
“To think you’ve been so trusting and innocent, little Carol, and now...”  
  
“Don’t call me little Carol. Don't even use my name, you scum. I don’t know why I'm seeing you here, but you won’t get away from me .”  
  
“Really? Do you think you can change so much?”  
  
“You’re the one hiding in the shadows. Not me.”  
  
“Or you just refuse to see me?”   Mark stepped out of corner. He looked like he hadn’t changed at all since they last met. Still slick with a perfect suit. However, Carol would never forget how toxic he was in her life, how he nearly ruined her career and her life. The last straw was when he accused her of academic fraud, which she had to fight hard to clean her name.  
  
“Give up, little Carol. You know you haven’t changed at all. Go back to your old place.”  
  
“I won’t. Fate leads us here, and I won’t make the same mistake again.”  
  
“Well, you won’t leave this place at all,” Mark said. Then he changed into a big wolf.  
  
“You thought that I’d be afraid of a wolf?” Carol asked. She felt her body shrink to that of a little girl. What was this place doing to her?  
  
The wolf pounced and she avoided its bite. The smaller body gave her more mobility, but she found that her strength was diminished. It made her harder to to use a forceful punch against the wolf.  
  
The wolf chased her across the hut. Carol took up one of the document files and when the wolf opened its mouth again, rammed it into its opened mouth, then used the moment of surprise to kick at its body. She threw other document files at it, using them as weapons. She found a rod and hit the wolf. The wolf finally got rid of the file in its mouth, but the situation wasn’t so one-sided now.  
  
Carol remembered her military training and used the rod to effectively beat her foe. The wolf groaned and tried to pounce at her, but Carol jumped away from it. Finally she delivered  a deadly blow and the wolf died, reverting to Mark again. Carol wasn’t sure why she felt a bit empty about it.  
  
She was leaving the hut when a note on the floor caught her attention. She took it up and found that the note was in her mother’s handwriting. The note said, “I love you, Carol. You’re born to be free.”  
Carol paused for awhile, then she put the note in her pocket. Her mother might be part of the plan, but she believed the her sentiment toward Carol was true. She checked over the document and found that it was a report to cease surveillance of the subjects, submitted by her mother. Carol felt a sense of warmth.  
  
Then she left the hut, feeling refreshed.  
  
The mist was getting more clear and her steps were lighter, determined to leave the place.

* * *

  
Wanda was trapped in the mist. No matter which direction she went, the mist ahead was getting thicker. Finally she stayed in one place, concentrating, throwing a hex burst at the mist. A wind appeared and chased away some of the mist. She could vaguelymake out figures ahead and hastened her steps, wanting to reunite with her friends. she stopped when she saw an old man.  
  
“Stop,” the old man said, and Wanda couldn’t move. She immediately recognized that this man might be an enemy.  
  
“Who’re you?” Wanda asked.  
  
“I’m B. You’re a danger to the world.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Don’t you wonder about your power? You’re a human seal of evil, and you’re destined to be a world destroyer.”  
  
“It’s ridiculous.”  
  
“You’re a reality warper. Everything around you was twisted to fit your whim. You created your friends. You created your brother. You created this cracksack world.”  
  
Wanda couldn’t help but laugh, “Why should I believe you?”  
  
“Watch,” the man said and waved his hand. Wanda found that her life was shownin front of her, but it was without Pietro, her brother.  
  
“Pietro was just a vision you created. You conjured him to protect you. You caused your mother’s death. You incited the mob because you wanted to get out of the village.”  
  
“That’s not true!” Wanda said, but she was beginning to doubt it herself.  
  
“You know it’s true. You just don’t want to accept it. Accept your fate and fulfill your destiny.”  
  
“No, even if part of what you say is true, I won’t do anything to harm the world.”  
  
“You will, because I will you to do it,”. the old man’s eyes turned red,. “I’m your creator. You should obey me.”  
  
Wanda sensed that a battle of will and magic was about to start. She concentrated. There was no way she’d just follow this man’s whim. Her fate was hers to decide.  
  
It was hard. Wanda felt overwhelming strength against her, with different voices whispering toher, promising love, safety and acceptance. Visions of a better world appeared before her face. They were very tempting. With the power against her, they were getting harder and harder to resist.  
  
A vision of Agatha appeared before her and said, “Child, you’re powerful and you can use your power for good or for bad. Only you can make a choice, but you’re not alone in it.”  
  
Then her friends appeared beside her. Carol held her hand and said, “Wanda, I believe in you. Don’t let him win.” Steve and Tony also looked and smiled at her.  
  
“Even if I might be a world destroyer?”  
  
“You won’t, because we won’t let you do it.”  
  
It gave Wanda extra power to fight the old man. Finally  she resisted the voices and pushed the power back at the old man. Then he disappeared.  
  
Wanda fell to the ground, exhausted, and heard Carol’s voice. She turned  in that direction and found Carol looking at her, worried. “I saw you fighting...”  
  
“Is this really you?”  
  
“Yes. Are you all right?”  
  
Wanda didn’t know why she suddenly feel shy, but she hugged Carol back and said, “Thank you.” Then she realized that there was blood on Carol’s clothes.  
  
“Are you hurt?”  
  
“No, it’s a wolf. Long story, let us find Steve and Tony first.”  
  
They walked and arrived at a garden. They met Steve and Tony who came up to hug them. “Are you all right?”  
  
“We should be asking you that. Where’ve you been?”  
  
Carol noticed that Steve and Tony’s expression  was weird. Something must have happened. Something bad. She decided to ask them later. Right now their priority was escape and mission.  
  
“Now we finally have four. It’s tea time now,” a little girl’s voice said. Carol found that it was the same girl she and Wanda had seen in the haunted house.  
  
“What’s your role in all of this?” Carol asked.  
  
The girl looked confused. “I just invited you four to have tea.”  
  
“Did You trap us here?”  
  
“What do you mean, trapped? If you don’t want to drink tea, you can leave that way. No one will stop you.” The girl pointed, and the motel was just ahead of them.  
  
Carol looked at the rest of them and they all seemed confused. Then Carol remembered the mission and asked, “Did you invite other people for tea?”  
  
“People passed by, but only the four of you stopped here. We’re lonely.”  
  
In the end they drank their tea and had a biscuit. When they returned to the motel, they found the missing agents, who looked healthy albeit confused, and said they had no memory of what happened.  
  
They reported back to Agent Romanova, who simply asked them to headquarters. On their way, they were busy worrying what to put into the record.  
  
Agent Romanova listened to the abridged version of their reports and only said that S.H.I.E.L.D. would put the little girl on category B, a person or object with potential risk to humanity. Thinking of what the girl seemed capable of , Carol found it a bit too cautious but would not object to it. She looked at Steve and Tony; they were behaving odd, acting distant and wondered whether she needed to talk to them. Usually she wasn’t the best for this kind of task, but they were friends and Carol wanted to help.  
  
But she’d looked for Wanda first.  
  
Carol invited Wanda to her room to talk about their experience in the weird town. After they had shared to each other, Carol asked, “What do you feel now?”How do you feel about what happened?  
  
“Conflicted. I really don’t know how much of the old man’s words are true, but...”  
  
“He was just a vision to distract you. Your power doesn’t work this way.”  
  
“But...”  
  
“No, but.... You resisted the old man successfully today. You’ll be able to resist similar threats in the future.”  
  
“Mostly because of you, Carol.”  
  
“You flatter me. “  
  
“You’re there to encourage me.”  
  
“It’s what a friend does.”  
  
“Thank you anyway,” Wanda smiled and held Carol’s hands.

* * *

  
Steve chased after Tony and found him in his lab, where Tony was working on making a new arm for himself. Steve waited for him to finish before speaking. “We need to talk.”  
  
“About what?”  
  
“About what’d happen in the town.”  
  
“It’s probably an illusion.”  
  
“It didn’t feel like it, and your arm...”  
  
I’m sorry I was used to hurt you. If I was more careful, the boy wouldn’t have died, and then the man probably wouldn’t have used me to hurt you,” said Tony.  
  
“You were the one hurt. It was my fault.”  
  
“I should be better, stronger and cleverer, but I...”  
  
“Tony, look at me,” Steve said. When Tony’s eyes finally met his, Steve said, “We may both have our cross to bear, and I can’t stop you beating yourself up about it, but the blood’s on me too. And...” Steve paused and said, “I might be selfish, but your existence is important to me. You’re my best friend, the most important person for me. I’m sad about the boy’s death, but I’d  be more sad if you had never exist in this world. I can’t imagine my life without you. You have been here with me when I’m happy, and you’ve been here for me at the lowest point of my life. You’re that important.”  
  
“I hope I’m not reading you wrong,” Tony said. Then he pressed his lips against Steve’s.  
  
Steve was startled at first. He didn’t think he meant it this way. Or did he? They were already best friends, and Tony seemed to love him, and... soon he forgot his thoughts when he was immersed in the kiss.  
  
Finally they had to break apart to breathe and there was shyness and joy in Tony’s eyes. “I thought I’d never be able to do  that.”  
  
How long had Tony been in love with him? The girl’s question came to mind: _Did he really only see you as a friend?_ Steve might not exactly know what to do now, but he wasn’t known for cowardice. Their relationship was changing and they’d take it one step at a time, see where it took them.

* * *

  
Carol saw Steve and Tony coming out of the workshop and - judging from their faces,- they probably kissed. Steve blushed a bit when he saw her, and Tony just smiled shyly.  
  
Carol wasn’t surprised about the change  in their relationship. They were acting very obvious. “But at this moment, Carol worried what might happen if they were seperated again. Of course, she didn’t say that. Instead she simply said, “Congratulations!”  
“Thank you,” Steve and Tony said.  
  
Carol patted their shoulders and said, "Good luck!"   In this world In this world they lived in, they would need a lot of good wishes.  
  
Then she thought of Wanda and felt conflicted.

* * *

  
Agent Romanova gathered them for a briefing the next day. She looked unusually serious today. Here is your next mission. With the information and items gathered from the previous mission, we have successfully intercepted information about a conspiracy by the HYDRA organization, which involved involves both the government and the military. Your your mission is to to infiltrate HYDRA’s headquarters, hack into the mainframe compute , and extract the information inside. This is a dangerous mission but I have complete trust in your ability to carry it out.”  
  
“What’s the conspiracy?”  
  
“The HYDRA organization  has infiltrated the military to control various super soldiers programs so as to produce their perfect army, while they also conducted a search on magic power. Combining both the technology and the magic, HYDRA wants to conquer the world and we’re going to stop them. You’re not the only team involved in this, but your task is / does have an important place in the project.”  
  
It was the first time Agent Romanova had explained so that much about the background for a mission, so this had to be important. Carol thought of the super pilot program she was a product of and the experiment Steve went through.It was an uncomfortable thought. Were these projects all in the hands of this HYDRA organization?If so, no matter what, they would have to eradicate them. Carol saw the frown on Steve’s face and knew that he must have thought about it too. And  was the old man who tried to harm Wanda a part of it too? The conspiracy was getting bigger and bigger.  
  
The team began to plan for the mission. Carol’s teammates all looked serious as they grasped the consequence of failure. Then they worked out a plan for infiltration.  
  
The mainframe computer was located in a very unexpected place: in the underground bunker of a large casino in Las Vegas. Carol was surprised at first, then she figured out that with the high mobility and the heavy security in a casino there, it might be a perfect place to hide your headquarters. Therefore they took a plane to Las Vegas to survey the environment.  
  
After staking out the casino, they agreed that a direct confrontation would be unnecessary and suicidal. A more subtle way of infiltration would be much better, and a nearby gas factory gave them an idea.  
  
Late at night, when the casino was busy, oxygen was secretly released into the casino through the air duct controlled by the staff to revitalize the gamblers so they would lose more. But now the the gas was changed. The team exchange it for laughing gas, and the gamblers and staff alike fell asleep.  
  
The team then infiltrated the casino dressed as the cleaning staff and cut off the electricity supply. In the ensuing confusion, the team descended into the underground bunker where Tony hacked the electronic lock.  
  
When they reached the room where the computer was, they found that it was guarded by a team of HYDRA agents. A fight seemed to be inevitable. When an agent tried to jump on Steve, he blocked the agent off with his S.H.I.E.L.D. and knocked him down. Carol punched through the crowd of HYDRA agents relying on her super speed and strength. Wanda supported her teammates with disruptive hex bolts. Tony used his repulsor beam to shoot the agents down.  
  
When they finally  disarmed and incapacitated the HYDRA agents, Tony sat  at the mainframe computer to hack into it. Carol was on alert. They might not be able to help Tony hack into the computer, but they had his back, and from Tony’s frown, Carol could tell it wasn’t an easy task. Finally , Tony said with a smile. “It ‘s done.” Then they left and ran away from the bunker, only to be stopped near the exit by a giant robot.  
  
A female voice came from the robot, “I’m so disappointed in all of you. You all are supposed to serve HYDRA, with your full skill and abilities. Then you decided to desert to the S.H.I.E.L.D. to ruin our important plans. Carol with your military training, Wanda with your magic, Steve with your ability, and Tony with your brain, you were all supposed to serve a greater purpose. Surrender and join HYDRA now!”  
  
“How come I’m involved?” Tony asked.  
  
“This robot was made on design based on your father’s work. He was a loyal member of HYDRA and you were created to be the prototype of a battle robot. Your early removal of our loyal servant prevented the plan from being carried out.”  
  
It had to be a shock to Tony, judging from the look on his face, but he soon recovered and said, “Let’s attack!” and the team started to fight against the robot.  
  
The fight was hard. Steve’s S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t have much effect on the robot’s armor, neither did Carol’s strength. Wanda’s hex bout did stop it for awhile, and Tony’s repulsor left marks on it. Over all the attacks were not effective against it.  
  
The robot was armed with heavy firepower and several times they were nearly hit. judging from the impact left by the attack, Carol could say that being hit was lethal.  
  
The situation wasn’t optimistic and Carol was thinking of solutions. Then Tony said through the communicator. “I’m going to explode against it to give you a chance.”  
  
“No!” Carol, Steve and Wanda shouted at the same time. Steve added, “Don’t you dare do it.”  
  
“But...”  
  
“You don’t have to sacrifice yourself.”  
“There’s no need for Tony to sacrifice himself. I’ll let out my power,” Wanda said.  
  
“Is it safe?”  
  
“I’m quite sure.  And I’ll definitely have a better chance than Tony.”  
  
They evaded another attack and Tony was  feeling the burn. Carol said, “Do it.”

* * *

  
Wanda concentrated on her power, feeling  it flow out of her. In her inner eye she could see that the robot consisted of numerous parts and what she needed to do was to twist them so they no longer worked together. It required delicate handling and concentration. At the edge of her eyes, she could see that her teammates were acting as her S.H.I.E.L.D., deflecting attacks from her. She had a vague sense of gratitude, but her need to concentrate on her power didn’t allow much space for her to think of other things. There was just one more push needed, one more push...  
  
She felt the power fill her and there was a sense of fullness. She focused all the energy on the robot and threw her power at it.

* * *

  
Carol was on alert, but she hadn’t been prepared for the complete breakdown of the robot so soon. She anticipated the coming explosion and pulled Wanda to the floor, sheltering Wanda with her body.  
  
When the explosion was over, Carol  got up from the ground and Wanda followed , saying, “Carol, you’re hurt.” Only then did she realize that she was bleeding. It must have been the impact of the fragments. She shrugged it off and, looking for Steve and Tony, saw that Tony was just getting up from having covered Steve with his body.  
  
Agent Romanova and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents appeared and they were and they were flown back to headquarters where they were sent to the infirmary Carol soon released herself from infirmary as did Tony. She could see Steve helping him back to their rooms and tried not to think too much about it. on her way back, she found that Wanda was already waiting for her in her room.  
  
“Thanks for saving me,” Wanda said.  
  
Carol shrugged “There’s no need to thank me. I just did what a friend and teammate should do.”  
  
“Speaking of this... after you’re completely healed, we should have a meal outside together, my treat.”  
  
“All right. It’ll be a date then,” Carol joked, but when she noticed the blush on Wanda’s face, she suddenly found the atmosphere tense and that she had no words  
  
“Yes, it’ll be a date,” Wanda finally said and kissed Carol, leaving Carol to wonder what’d happened, but she found that she wasn’t averse to the new development.

* * *

  
Tony was in his room and said to Steve who hovered by his side. “Stop, Steve. You know I’m a robot. I heal fast.”  
  
“I still worry, and we need to talk about your self-sacrificial tendency.”  
  
“It’s a perfectly sound strategy---”  
  
“It’sa suicidal strategy. You’ll die.”  
  
“It doesn’t matter.”  
  
“It definitely does matter.”  
  
Tony sighed. They just endured a battle. He was worn out. Steve was worn out, and there’d soon be debriefing and stuff. He didn’t want to spend the time arguing for a past event. “Steve, come here please.”  
  
Steve did and said with concern,” What’s the matter?Does your wound still hurt? Should I...”  
  
Tony pressed his lips to Steve’s. It was a better use of their time, and soon Steve was persuaded to see his side too.

* * *

  
At the debriefing, Agent Romanova said that they’d delivered a great strike to the HYDRA organization and predicted that HYDRA would need a lot of time to recover from the damage dealt to it. She praised their parts in it.  
  
Steve asked about the pilot and Agent Romanova said that after the battle, they deducted from the remaining fragments of the robot that it was remotely-controlled and they didn’t manage to catch the pilot. However, a lot of HYDRA agents were under arrest.  
  
She concluded the debriefing and said, “You deserve a break. We have arranged a vacation for you all.”

* * *

  
At the resort, Tony lazily sat by the pool side and enjoyed watching Carol and Steve swimming with Wanda sitting by him reading a book. When Carol came up from the water, Wanda looked up and smiled at her. They then left presumably to a more private spot. Tony had noticed the change of the relationship between Carol and Wanda and he only felt happy for them.  
  
Steve came up from the water later and water droplets dripped from his almost naked body. Tony leered at him and found that Steve attracted a lot of people’s attention. He only smiled because he felt a sense of pride. Steve smiled back and said, “You should come swim too.”  
  
“And miss out enjoying your body? No way.”  
  
Then a bunch of differently masked armed people appeared and other customers ran away from them. The masked people shouted, “Bow to AIM!”  
  
Steve turned to Tony and said, “It seems that fights follow us everywhere.” Then he threw himself to fight against the masked people.  
  
“The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents’ jobs are never done,” Tony agreed and joined the fight.  
  
  
  


 


End file.
